The Pogues at the Orpheum
As I posted bunches of times already, I went to to see The Pogues on March 19. I wrote a couple of posts about it on my other site but if you don't read there and want to hear how the concert was, here 'tis, slightly edited to make sense now that it's a few days later, plus some other stuff that I didn't post originally. And some of this is repeated from the couple of short LJ entries I made from the show itself. Technology is grand, innit?? :-)
Shane MacGowan has still got it.
I scored a front-row-center seat to the Pogues concert last night at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston. I was able to get a bunch of pictures that didn't come out too horribly, considering I was using a P&S and no flash. They're fairly grainy but I kinda like that in a concert shot. Unfortunately they did not allow professional-grade camera equipment inside; only small digitals with non-removable lenses. I had been looking forward to bringing my Nikon but I was worried they'd want to "hold on to it" for me and I don't trust people to hold on very seriously to other people's expensive things. So, these were shot with my little Casio EX-Z1050. And although I really love that camera and it's super-small size, I really wish it had a viewfinder in addition to the window on the back. It's hard to get a good shot in low light without having something (your nose and face) to steady the camera. When I went inside to the hall, the usher asked where my seat was and I told him "DD 105" and he said, "You've got the best seat in the house," and I was all "I know!!!" Thank you to Jessie for not using the ticket. I'm sorry you couldn't go but I'm so glad I could.
I had a smashing time and can't wait to see them again. The entire audience was focusing on them the whole time. Pogues fans are pretty damned happy during a show. I don't know if it's the music or the ambiance of being in the room with those guys. Most likely both. There were all ages there: I saw people old enough to be my parents and couples with small children wearing Irish green. Shane seemed to be doing okay. I hope he stays okay. He didn't seem drunk to me. Or not overwhelmingly so, anyway. He was drinking something but it could have been a dark-ish beer or it could have been a Coke. Okay I'm sure it wasn't actually a Coke but the point is, he was pretty steady and looked good.
He certainly wasn't throwing up on people like he did a few years ago. Before the show started, I had my IPA (yep, they let you take actual liquor into the theatre at the Orpheum) on the edge of the stage and one of the crew came up to me and asked me to not leave it there, since it might spill "and Shane might be tempted." That made me totally crack up--I said, "Well we definitely don't want that to happen!"--but it was sad too. He has so, so much talent and it's been nearly completely fucked up by booze. That's part of his mystique by this point and everyone knows Shane is a hopeless alcoholic but somehow it gets turned so often into this romanticized mythical-Irish-poet of legends past and so it's "okay," it's "just the way Shane is."
The man is a bloody genius--his own peers call him among the greatest, or even THE greatest, songwriter of the past century--and yet no mention of Shane MacGowan can be made without referring to his current level of drunkenness, usually even before anyone even talks about his music, which is the whole point of their talking about him in the first place. Booze to that extent is not a romantic misty cloud of creative inspiration. It just breaks my heart to see him sometimes. When I think I might open the paper one day (to Page 32; he'll not be on the front page above the fold) and see "Singer found dead" I just want to cry. Sometimes I do. I know that's crazy.
The Pogues really deserve to be seen live. Even on a CD you can feel them in a live version. Not that their studio work isn't wonderful also but it's magical to even just hear them--let alone see them--live. It was also amazing and beautiful to see Philip Chevron
up there after his chemotherapy for throat cancer. He of course sang Thousands Are Sailing and there is no one with a single drop of Irish blood who can listen to that song without tearing up. There were a couple of longtime fans in the front row and Philip dedicated the song to their two small girls who were there with them. Spider Stacy took a few turns away from the tin whistle to sing, as did drummer Andrew Ranken. I kind of like that although Shane is the ostensible lead singer, nobody is locked into "their" role. It makes for a more interesting show, and the fact that it's not unusual for someone else to sing lead makes it more like "we're all of us a band together," not a frontman with a bunch of anonymous backing musicians. Technically, they sounded brilliant. There was some kind of sound problem for the first two or three songs but they quickly got that sorted out. I could see the band grimacing to the soundboard guy, "up, no down, little more"--he got it all fixed up and after the next song the sound was great.
They did two encores at the end, ending the show with Fiesta, and when they left the stage after the regular set and then at the end of the two encores I kept yelling as loud as I could, "Shane, come back! Come back, Shane!" I hope he heard me somehow. I hope he doesn't end up like the other Shane. We've got things for him to do ...
The whole picture set is here. It works well to set it on slideshow.
The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald posted their reviews. The Herald's was in some ways a little more complimentary and I think more accurate. The Globe said "MacGowan was, inevitably, a mess, but his legendary insobriety hardly merits mentioning anymore." I don't think that's entirely fair. He was not a mess. He was nowhere near a "mess" on the Shane MacGowan Scale of Messiness.
Shane apparently went to J.J. Foley's after the show and closed out the bar. God damn it! I was so tired I went straight home afterward. I should have just pinched myself and headed over there. Next year.
19 March set list--courtesy of Vagabond at pogues.com:
Streams of Whiskey
If I should fall from grace with God
Broad majestic Shannon
Turkish song of the damned
A pair of brown eyes
Dark streets of London
Tuesday Morning
Sayonara
Kitty
Sunny side of the street
Repeal of the licensing laws
Thousands are sailing
Body of an American
Boys from the county Hell
Love you till the end
Greenland whale fisheries
Dirty old town
Bottle of Smoke
Sickbed of Cuchulainn
FIRST ENCORE
Sally Maclennanne
Rainy Night in Soho
Irish Rover
SECOND ENCORE
Star of the county Down
Poor Paddy
Fiesta
***I really cannot get over how bloody fantastic that show was**
Shane McGowan Pogues concert March 19, 2008 Boston Orpheum Theatre theater meowhouse meow house theatre http://www.meowhouse.net
Shane MacGowan has still got it.
I scored a front-row-center seat to the Pogues concert last night at the Orpheum Theatre in Boston. I was able to get a bunch of pictures that didn't come out too horribly, considering I was using a P&S and no flash. They're fairly grainy but I kinda like that in a concert shot. Unfortunately they did not allow professional-grade camera equipment inside; only small digitals with non-removable lenses. I had been looking forward to bringing my Nikon but I was worried they'd want to "hold on to it" for me and I don't trust people to hold on very seriously to other people's expensive things. So, these were shot with my little Casio EX-Z1050. And although I really love that camera and it's super-small size, I really wish it had a viewfinder in addition to the window on the back. It's hard to get a good shot in low light without having something (your nose and face) to steady the camera. When I went inside to the hall, the usher asked where my seat was and I told him "DD 105" and he said, "You've got the best seat in the house," and I was all "I know!!!" Thank you to Jessie for not using the ticket. I'm sorry you couldn't go but I'm so glad I could.
I had a smashing time and can't wait to see them again. The entire audience was focusing on them the whole time. Pogues fans are pretty damned happy during a show. I don't know if it's the music or the ambiance of being in the room with those guys. Most likely both. There were all ages there: I saw people old enough to be my parents and couples with small children wearing Irish green. Shane seemed to be doing okay. I hope he stays okay. He didn't seem drunk to me. Or not overwhelmingly so, anyway. He was drinking something but it could have been a dark-ish beer or it could have been a Coke. Okay I'm sure it wasn't actually a Coke but the point is, he was pretty steady and looked good.
He certainly wasn't throwing up on people like he did a few years ago. Before the show started, I had my IPA (yep, they let you take actual liquor into the theatre at the Orpheum) on the edge of the stage and one of the crew came up to me and asked me to not leave it there, since it might spill "and Shane might be tempted." That made me totally crack up--I said, "Well we definitely don't want that to happen!"--but it was sad too. He has so, so much talent and it's been nearly completely fucked up by booze. That's part of his mystique by this point and everyone knows Shane is a hopeless alcoholic but somehow it gets turned so often into this romanticized mythical-Irish-poet of legends past and so it's "okay," it's "just the way Shane is."
The man is a bloody genius--his own peers call him among the greatest, or even THE greatest, songwriter of the past century--and yet no mention of Shane MacGowan can be made without referring to his current level of drunkenness, usually even before anyone even talks about his music, which is the whole point of their talking about him in the first place. Booze to that extent is not a romantic misty cloud of creative inspiration. It just breaks my heart to see him sometimes. When I think I might open the paper one day (to Page 32; he'll not be on the front page above the fold) and see "Singer found dead" I just want to cry. Sometimes I do. I know that's crazy.
The Pogues really deserve to be seen live. Even on a CD you can feel them in a live version. Not that their studio work isn't wonderful also but it's magical to even just hear them--let alone see them--live. It was also amazing and beautiful to see Philip Chevron
up there after his chemotherapy for throat cancer. He of course sang Thousands Are Sailing and there is no one with a single drop of Irish blood who can listen to that song without tearing up. There were a couple of longtime fans in the front row and Philip dedicated the song to their two small girls who were there with them. Spider Stacy took a few turns away from the tin whistle to sing, as did drummer Andrew Ranken. I kind of like that although Shane is the ostensible lead singer, nobody is locked into "their" role. It makes for a more interesting show, and the fact that it's not unusual for someone else to sing lead makes it more like "we're all of us a band together," not a frontman with a bunch of anonymous backing musicians. Technically, they sounded brilliant. There was some kind of sound problem for the first two or three songs but they quickly got that sorted out. I could see the band grimacing to the soundboard guy, "up, no down, little more"--he got it all fixed up and after the next song the sound was great.
They did two encores at the end, ending the show with Fiesta, and when they left the stage after the regular set and then at the end of the two encores I kept yelling as loud as I could, "Shane, come back! Come back, Shane!" I hope he heard me somehow. I hope he doesn't end up like the other Shane. We've got things for him to do ...
The whole picture set is here. It works well to set it on slideshow.
The Boston Globe and The Boston Herald posted their reviews. The Herald's was in some ways a little more complimentary and I think more accurate. The Globe said "MacGowan was, inevitably, a mess, but his legendary insobriety hardly merits mentioning anymore." I don't think that's entirely fair. He was not a mess. He was nowhere near a "mess" on the Shane MacGowan Scale of Messiness.
Shane apparently went to J.J. Foley's after the show and closed out the bar. God damn it! I was so tired I went straight home afterward. I should have just pinched myself and headed over there. Next year.
19 March set list--courtesy of Vagabond at pogues.com:
Streams of Whiskey
If I should fall from grace with God
Broad majestic Shannon
Turkish song of the damned
A pair of brown eyes
Dark streets of London
Tuesday Morning
Sayonara
Kitty
Sunny side of the street
Repeal of the licensing laws
Thousands are sailing
Body of an American
Boys from the county Hell
Love you till the end
Greenland whale fisheries
Dirty old town
Bottle of Smoke
Sickbed of Cuchulainn
FIRST ENCORE
Sally Maclennanne
Rainy Night in Soho
Irish Rover
SECOND ENCORE
Star of the county Down
Poor Paddy
Fiesta
***I really cannot get over how bloody fantastic that show was**
Shane McGowan Pogues concert March 19, 2008 Boston Orpheum Theatre theater meowhouse meow house theatre http://www.meowhouse.net