Sandwiched between Take That’s Rule the World and, a well loved favourite of many of this site’s readers, Heartbroken by T2 Ft Jodie Aysha The Pogues are number 8 in this week’s Top 40 with Fairytale Of New York. I’m unfamiliar with Ms Aysha’s oeuvre and have made a principle of never hearing anything by Take That. I’ve also made a point of avoiding Shane MacGowan’s live performances since a St. Patrick’s Night show about four years ago when he arrived almost two hours late and could barely speak. However, the last couple of Pogues’ London Christmas shows in Brixton are said to have been pretty decent and I am of a forgiving disposition.
We are living in linguistically sensitive times. If you are unacquainted with the work of Boyzone it is your good fortune not to have heard their version of Fairytale. They replaced the phrase “you faggot” with “you’re haggard”. Radio One also briefly decided to drop the offending word and were supported by Peter Tatchell according to the BBC. You may wish to express a view on this. For me the song is a story set to music and you can no more excise the offensive words than you can remove the reference to being drunk without destroying the work. An analogy from cinema might make the point. Just because John Wayne often played characters who were hard drinking, violent right wingers didn’t mean that he was like that in real life.
The show was a pleasant surprise. On occasions MacGowan sounded like a karaoke drunk singing Pogues’ songs and at other times he seemed to be singing in an obscure central European language. The sight of him having to read lyrics of songs he wrote and has sung for twenty five years should have served as a caution to the younger audience members. There were moments when the old greatness was evident. You can see it dimly on the videos and in the crowd’s response. Jem Finer’s daughter Emma sang the female part in Fairytale and probably incurred the jealous wrath of all the women in the audience for being able to dance with the irresistible Shane. The finale was Fiesta and it got the whole crowd on its feet singing.
The audience has changed. It’s older of course. It also seemed less Irish. Real Pogues fans will be familiar with the DVD of the 1987 show at the Town and Country Club. I was there. That was at a time when listening to the Pogues was almost an anti-imperialist statement in itself. The audience was mainly younger, newly arrived migrants watching a great band at the peak of its powers and popularity while enjoying a chance to be assertively Irish. The band is still tight but its glory days are behind it, the audience has aged and there are not so many young migrants.
MacGowan was on stage for almost all of the show. There were a couple of interludes when Spider Stacey sang and Shane shambled off. In the old days it was never sure that he would return. Tonight he did every single time on cue. That’s progress.
And here is one of the finest songs ever written.
Liam redux 
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