by Zuzana Mon Oct 16, 2006 6:20 am
The Pogues in San Francisco: “A Sublime Racket”
October 15, 2006
Filed under: Music — Myrna the Minx @ 6:31 pm
http://www.renodiscontent.com
St Patrick’s Day came early for the minx this year because she was lucky enough to score tickets to the first Pogues show (featuring most of the original members) on the west coast in 15 years at the Fillmore on October 9th. What was supposed to be a two night residency at the Fillmore, quickly turned into four as the Pogues show became the hottest ticket, not just in town, but probably in the country. No lie, I had an extra ticket and probably could’ve sold it for a couple of hundred bucks. Instead, I sold it to a lowly college student whose mother raised him right–on The Pogues. I’m such a sucker. To learn more about The Pogues visit their wiki site and official site.
It was only fitting that legendary Pogues played at the legendary Fillmore–still as wonderful as its always been, even after going corporate (tt was recently purchased by LiveNation a subsidary of Clear Channel). The Fillmore is still a bit shabby around the edges (the womens’ bathroom inexplicably smells of cat litter) but is glorious in draped red velvet. It holds 1250 people and was operating at full capacity that night. The Guinness was flowing both in cups and out of cups–I’ll get into that a little later on.
As anyone familiar with the history of The Pogues and their notorious drunken frontman Shane McGowan knows, you’re never actually sure they’re going to play a show until they walk onto the stage. Talk to anyone who’s seen them before, and they’ll tell you (in most cases) fond stories about late starts and a stumbling and incapacitated McGowan. Fortunately, not only did McGowan show up and walk himself on stage, he sang beautifully, although his spoken English was incomprehensible as expected. McGowan is an assemblage of curious contradictions–he has the face and large ears of a five year old boy (complete with missing front teeth which are a legend all their own), but a deliciously gritty and seasoned voice, and a lifestyle that would make Keith Richards cringe (the only drug McGowan has forsaken is herion). When he smiles that toothless, boyish grin and screams insults at the audience (Fuck you very much! “Faggots!” “Filthly thieving bastards!” etc.) it comes across as charming and causes the audience to respond in kind–a raucous exchange of true appreciation.
And how does one explain The Pogues? Many call them an Irish punk group but that doesn’t do them justice. The attitude (and often the speed of play) may be punk, but these guys play Irish music with amazing skill and passion. The Pogues are a celebration of traditional Irish music–much of it re-interpreted–but often as not, as traditional as they day it was first played. Its a mixture or longing and sadness and wicked fun–fueled by one of the greatest song writers of the last 3o years–a drunken poet to the last. Plus, what other band can make the accordian and flute rock god sexy?
The anticipation was massive as you can imagine as everyone waited to see if they’d show up. Fortunately, a guy standing in front of me ran into McGowan on his way backstage and reported that he was walking on his own–good news indeed. Because they play so many instruments, the set up after the opening band took forever, and several times the audience broke out into a chant: “Pogues! Pogues! Pogues!” until finally the lights dimmed, and in one of my favorite moments of the night, The Clash’s “Straight To Hell” began to play while the audience clapped along to the beat and sang the song until it faded out and The Pogues took the stage. Just like Billy Bragg, there is a huge overlap between Clash fans and Pogues fans so everyone knew the words and understood the signifigance of the moment. It was a nice homage to Joe Strummer, long considered an unofficial or at least honorary member of the band.
They kicked off the show hard and fast with “Streams of Whiskey,” and followed up with one of my favorites “If I Should Fall From Grace with God” and “Turkish Song of The Damned” so you knew they meant business. And they continued to play all their classic romps (”Bottle of Smoke,” “Boys From the County Hell,” “The Sickbed of Cuchalainn,” including a fair share of ballads like “A Pair of Brown Eyes,” “Lullaby of London,”Old Main Drag,” “Dirty Old Town” and of course “Fairytale of New York” which ended the show with a shower of fake snow falling from the ceiling.
About every third song, McGowan left the stage for a break (an IV? A rest? who knows) and would return, shout an insult at the audience and break into the next song. His breaks provided some well-deserved attention for flutist Spider Stacey and mandolinist Terry Woods who took over as frontman when McGowan was off stage. In one hilarious moment, McGowan came ambling on stage with a roadie in tow who was furiously lighting a cigarette for him. That’s right folks–McGowan has a roadie who lights his cigarettes! Spider Stacey also served as sort of interpreter for McGowan throughout the show.
When I was thinking about how I would sum up this show during my long drive home, besides saying that it was the best concert I’ve ever been too, the words raucous, rollicking, and sublime came to mind. The show was “a sublime racket” (a phrase I apparently nicked from the Rhino’s blurb on the reissue–see how easy it is to plagarize?) a night filled with flying beer cups, dancing (everything form pogoing and moshing to groups of people swaying back and forth arm and arm), and furious celebration. The Fillmore bounced with all of us–at times feeling like a 5.6 had hit the city. I’ve never seen a crowd have that much fun, and unless I make it to another Pogues show, I probably never will. For an idea of what its like to be at a Pogues show, watch
this video from the night I was there (”If I Should Fall From Grace with God”) and
this one (”Rainy Night In Soho”) and
this one (”Fairytale of New York”). This might even be the guy who was standing in front of me. Listen to the crowd singing over McGowan and dancing like a fury. It also features McGowan’s trademark scream.
For a look at what its like to interview Shane McGowan, read the introduction to Pogue Mahone: Kiss My Arse: Story of the Pogues
[b]The Pogues in San Francisco: “A Sublime Racket” [/b]
[i]October 15, 2006
Filed under: Music — Myrna the Minx @ 6:31 pm [/i]
[url]http://www.renodiscontent.com[/url]
St Patrick’s Day came early for the minx this year because she was lucky enough to score tickets to the first Pogues show (featuring most of the original members) on the west coast in 15 years at the Fillmore on October 9th. What was supposed to be a two night residency at the Fillmore, quickly turned into four as the Pogues show became the hottest ticket, not just in town, but probably in the country. No lie, I had an extra ticket and probably could’ve sold it for a couple of hundred bucks. Instead, I sold it to a lowly college student whose mother raised him right–on The Pogues. I’m such a sucker. To learn more about The Pogues visit their wiki site and official site.
It was only fitting that legendary Pogues played at the legendary Fillmore–still as wonderful as its always been, even after going corporate (tt was recently purchased by LiveNation a subsidary of Clear Channel). The Fillmore is still a bit shabby around the edges (the womens’ bathroom inexplicably smells of cat litter) but is glorious in draped red velvet. It holds 1250 people and was operating at full capacity that night. The Guinness was flowing both in cups and out of cups–I’ll get into that a little later on.
As anyone familiar with the history of The Pogues and their notorious drunken frontman Shane McGowan knows, you’re never actually sure they’re going to play a show until they walk onto the stage. Talk to anyone who’s seen them before, and they’ll tell you (in most cases) fond stories about late starts and a stumbling and incapacitated McGowan. Fortunately, not only did McGowan show up and walk himself on stage, he sang beautifully, although his spoken English was incomprehensible as expected. McGowan is an assemblage of curious contradictions–he has the face and large ears of a five year old boy (complete with missing front teeth which are a legend all their own), but a deliciously gritty and seasoned voice, and a lifestyle that would make Keith Richards cringe (the only drug McGowan has forsaken is herion). When he smiles that toothless, boyish grin and screams insults at the audience (Fuck you very much! “Faggots!” “Filthly thieving bastards!” etc.) it comes across as charming and causes the audience to respond in kind–a raucous exchange of true appreciation.
And how does one explain The Pogues? Many call them an Irish punk group but that doesn’t do them justice. The attitude (and often the speed of play) may be punk, but these guys play Irish music with amazing skill and passion. The Pogues are a celebration of traditional Irish music–much of it re-interpreted–but often as not, as traditional as they day it was first played. Its a mixture or longing and sadness and wicked fun–fueled by one of the greatest song writers of the last 3o years–a drunken poet to the last. Plus, what other band can make the accordian and flute rock god sexy?
The anticipation was massive as you can imagine as everyone waited to see if they’d show up. Fortunately, a guy standing in front of me ran into McGowan on his way backstage and reported that he was walking on his own–good news indeed. Because they play so many instruments, the set up after the opening band took forever, and several times the audience broke out into a chant: “Pogues! Pogues! Pogues!” until finally the lights dimmed, and in one of my favorite moments of the night, The Clash’s “Straight To Hell” began to play while the audience clapped along to the beat and sang the song until it faded out and The Pogues took the stage. Just like Billy Bragg, there is a huge overlap between Clash fans and Pogues fans so everyone knew the words and understood the signifigance of the moment. It was a nice homage to Joe Strummer, long considered an unofficial or at least honorary member of the band.
They kicked off the show hard and fast with “Streams of Whiskey,” and followed up with one of my favorites “If I Should Fall From Grace with God” and “Turkish Song of The Damned” so you knew they meant business. And they continued to play all their classic romps (”Bottle of Smoke,” “Boys From the County Hell,” “The Sickbed of Cuchalainn,” including a fair share of ballads like “A Pair of Brown Eyes,” “Lullaby of London,”Old Main Drag,” “Dirty Old Town” and of course “Fairytale of New York” which ended the show with a shower of fake snow falling from the ceiling.
About every third song, McGowan left the stage for a break (an IV? A rest? who knows) and would return, shout an insult at the audience and break into the next song. His breaks provided some well-deserved attention for flutist Spider Stacey and mandolinist Terry Woods who took over as frontman when McGowan was off stage. In one hilarious moment, McGowan came ambling on stage with a roadie in tow who was furiously lighting a cigarette for him. That’s right folks–McGowan has a roadie who lights his cigarettes! Spider Stacey also served as sort of interpreter for McGowan throughout the show.
When I was thinking about how I would sum up this show during my long drive home, besides saying that it was the best concert I’ve ever been too, the words raucous, rollicking, and sublime came to mind. The show was “a sublime racket” (a phrase I apparently nicked from the Rhino’s blurb on the reissue–see how easy it is to plagarize?) a night filled with flying beer cups, dancing (everything form pogoing and moshing to groups of people swaying back and forth arm and arm), and furious celebration. The Fillmore bounced with all of us–at times feeling like a 5.6 had hit the city. I’ve never seen a crowd have that much fun, and unless I make it to another Pogues show, I probably never will. For an idea of what its like to be at a Pogues show, watch [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xIhCYj-kPk8]this video from the night I was there (”If I Should Fall From Grace with God”)[/url] and [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjnhRrpYc_8]this one (”Rainy Night In Soho”)[/url] and [url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FYNHzMKP2JI]this one (”Fairytale of New York”).[/url] This might even be the guy who was standing in front of me. Listen to the crowd singing over McGowan and dancing like a fury. It also features McGowan’s trademark scream.
For a look at what its like to interview Shane McGowan, read the introduction to Pogue Mahone: Kiss My Arse: Story of the Pogues
