DRINK TO THE PIED PIPER OF POETRY
15 December 2006
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From the moment he walked on stage, Shane MacGowan had the crowd in the palm of his hand.
The fact that he walked off several times during the night didn't seem to bother the adoring crowd as the master of drunken Irish poetry gave his recital.
MacGowan took the audience with him right through the night.
At the start he staggered up to the mike, blurted something incoherent and then burst into song.
From that point he was a man possessed, and the four or five thousand people at the Arena lapped it up.
Perched in a seat far up to the right of the stage, it was difficult not to look down on the merrily moshing crowd in front of the band with some envy. They were jumping up and down in front of the original line-up of the Pogues as they bashed out classics including Sally MacLennane, A Rainy Night In Soho, Thousands are Sailing and Irish Rover.
We were even treated to a festive attempt at Fairytale of New York - no Kirsty MacColl (obviously), but it still brought the house down.
After disappointment over MacGowan's failure to appear on stage at previous gigs, anything was a bonus. Having seen him at Rock City two or three years ago (a far more appropriate and intimate venue for a band like the Pogues) his night at the Arena was a triumph.
Give him a superb bunch of musicians, an adoring crowd and - after at least 20 years in the business - Shane MacGowan is finally ready to take the world by storm. He will waste that chance, but the faithful will carry on loving him.
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