by MacRua Tue Mar 17, 2009 3:16 pm
NEW YORK - THE POGUES WERE EXCELLENT, BUT DAVID SIMON WAS ALMOST BETTERby Vice Stuff
March 17, 2009
Vice MagazineFull URLWe saw the Pogues on Saturday night at Roseland Ballroom. It was great. Shane was in fighting form—we could actually make out all words. He was on pitch, wide-awake, and even throwing out between-song banter that was not only understandable, but also really funny. We love him more than ever.
They opened with “Streams of Whiskey” and played basically everything we wanted to hear, from “The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn” to “A Rainy Night in Soho,” “The Broad Majestic Shannon,” “Lullaby of London,” “If I Should Fall From Grace With God,” “A Pair of Brown Eyes,” and so on and so forth. All the hits basically. Phillip sang “Thousands Are Sailing” and Spider sang “Tuesday Morning.” It were luvverly. Multiple weeping people were spotted in the crowd, much singalonging and waving of plastic cups of beer went on and, shockingly, not one fight was evident from where we were standing. All in all, a perfect Pogues show.
Now, we missed the opening band, but we caught a pretty good pre-show happening in the lobby while waiting in line. You see, security at Roseland is dumb. They had two lines going, one for box office and one for will call, and they kept shuffling them back and forth and changing which line went where. After we waited in one line for 15 minutes with the show just about to start, they switched it back and we found ourselves in the wrong line. So we politely turned to the line next to us, which was now the correct line (are you following this?) and asked the guy standing there if he would let the two of us cut in on him, pretty please. He was a gruff older guy in a baseball cap and Homicide: Life on the Street “Season 5” jacket. He said yes, we stepped in, then we did ye olde classic double take and realized that, yes, that guy who just let us butt in was David Simon, the guy who invented The Wire, pretty much inarguably the best show that’s ever been on TV. Now that we knew it was him, we kept noticing the people who were coming up to him and asking to shake his hand, thanking him for his work. He was very gracious to all of them, going, “Thanks a lot. You a Pogues fan?” and then getting back to his teenage son. We made a conscious decision not to say anything about The Wire to him even though we could probably beat him in Wire trivia. Did we keep our lips shut because we figured that he was getting tired of all the hosannas or because we are huge pussies? Who knows? Only God can judge us. We limited the conversation to exchanging terse little comments on how disorganized the line was. Pretty exciting stuff.
But the really good part started when three Phish-fan looking guys tried to cut in front of us and our new friend Dave. Before we were even really aware of what was happening, David Fucking Simon was loudly berating them. “Hey, what’s this? The bum rush? I don’t think so, guys. Back of the line. BACK OF THE LINE!” It was awesome. The fraggle guys sort of sheepishly looked around and then shuffled away.
Then some lady who already got her ticket tried to cut back in front of us because she wanted a backstage pass too. She had a big greasy guy in a suit with a blonde ponytail backing her play for a pass. Again, David Simon let ‘er rip. He was asking the dude, “Who are you, the Secretary of State,” and calling it a “bum rush” again. The dude turned around and said, “I’m not even cutting in line. I got a guy back there in line for me!” and then Simon really shifted into high gear. “Oh, you got a guy, huh? You got a guy? You’re really important, aren’t you?” At this point the dude and David Simon are standing three feet apart, with only us in between them. The grease ball was getting pissed: “Fuck you, man! What the fuck’s your problem?” right in Simon’s face. And what did David Simon do? Never backed down for a fucking second, that’s what. Because he invented The Wire and, as we now know, he walks it like he talks it. He stood there and just steadily and calmly berated the dude until the fucker finally slunk away, then Simon stepped up and got his tickets for him and his kid, and off they went.
Later on, the band dedicated “The Body of an American” to him. If you’re a Wire fan, you know how important that song was to the show. Anyway, yeah, even though we didn't say it to your face, Mr. Simon, and even though you don’t read the Viceland blog or Vice magazine at all, we just want to say, um… we love you.
The Pogues are playing tonight through the 18th at the 9:30 Club in DC, and March 20 & 21st at the Boston House of Blues with Tom Gabel of Against Me!
P.S. A comment by baddabing -
Shane was awake and making sense AND being funny, my god what have they done with the real shane?? - is by far the bestest
[size=150]NEW YORK - THE POGUES WERE EXCELLENT, [/size]
[b]BUT DAVID SIMON WAS ALMOST BETTER[/b]
[i]by Vice Stuff
March 17, 2009
Vice Magazine[/i]
[url=http://vice.typepad.com/vice_magazine/2009/03/new-york---th-5.html]Full URL[/url]
[indent]We saw the Pogues on Saturday night at Roseland Ballroom. It was great. Shane was in fighting form—we could actually make out all words. He was on pitch, wide-awake, and even throwing out between-song banter that was not only understandable, but also really funny. We love him more than ever.
They opened with “Streams of Whiskey” and played basically everything we wanted to hear, from “The Sick Bed of Cuchulainn” to “A Rainy Night in Soho,” “The Broad Majestic Shannon,” “Lullaby of London,” “If I Should Fall From Grace With God,” “A Pair of Brown Eyes,” and so on and so forth. All the hits basically. Phillip sang “Thousands Are Sailing” and Spider sang “Tuesday Morning.” It were luvverly. Multiple weeping people were spotted in the crowd, much singalonging and waving of plastic cups of beer went on and, shockingly, not one fight was evident from where we were standing. All in all, a perfect Pogues show.
Now, we missed the opening band, but we caught a pretty good pre-show happening in the lobby while waiting in line. You see, security at Roseland is dumb. They had two lines going, one for box office and one for will call, and they kept shuffling them back and forth and changing which line went where. After we waited in one line for 15 minutes with the show just about to start, they switched it back and we found ourselves in the wrong line. So we politely turned to the line next to us, which was now the correct line (are you following this?) and asked the guy standing there if he would let the two of us cut in on him, pretty please. He was a gruff older guy in a baseball cap and Homicide: Life on the Street “Season 5” jacket. He said yes, we stepped in, then we did ye olde classic double take and realized that, yes, that guy who just let us butt in was David Simon, the guy who invented The Wire, pretty much inarguably the best show that’s ever been on TV. Now that we knew it was him, we kept noticing the people who were coming up to him and asking to shake his hand, thanking him for his work. He was very gracious to all of them, going, “Thanks a lot. You a Pogues fan?” and then getting back to his teenage son. We made a conscious decision not to say anything about The Wire to him even though we could probably beat him in Wire trivia. Did we keep our lips shut because we figured that he was getting tired of all the hosannas or because we are huge pussies? Who knows? Only God can judge us. We limited the conversation to exchanging terse little comments on how disorganized the line was. Pretty exciting stuff.
But the really good part started when three Phish-fan looking guys tried to cut in front of us and our new friend Dave. Before we were even really aware of what was happening, David Fucking Simon was loudly berating them. “Hey, what’s this? The bum rush? I don’t think so, guys. Back of the line. BACK OF THE LINE!” It was awesome. The fraggle guys sort of sheepishly looked around and then shuffled away.
Then some lady who already got her ticket tried to cut back in front of us because she wanted a backstage pass too. She had a big greasy guy in a suit with a blonde ponytail backing her play for a pass. Again, David Simon let ‘er rip. He was asking the dude, “Who are you, the Secretary of State,” and calling it a “bum rush” again. The dude turned around and said, “I’m not even cutting in line. I got a guy back there in line for me!” and then Simon really shifted into high gear. “Oh, you got a guy, huh? You got a guy? You’re really important, aren’t you?” At this point the dude and David Simon are standing three feet apart, with only us in between them. The grease ball was getting pissed: “Fuck you, man! What the fuck’s your problem?” right in Simon’s face. And what did David Simon do? Never backed down for a fucking second, that’s what. Because he invented The Wire and, as we now know, he walks it like he talks it. He stood there and just steadily and calmly berated the dude until the fucker finally slunk away, then Simon stepped up and got his tickets for him and his kid, and off they went.
Later on, the band dedicated “The Body of an American” to him. If you’re a Wire fan, you know how important that song was to the show. Anyway, yeah, even though we didn't say it to your face, Mr. Simon, and even though you don’t read the Viceland blog or Vice magazine at all, we just want to say, um… we love you.
[i]The Pogues are playing tonight through the 18th at the 9:30 Club in DC, and March 20 & 21st at the Boston House of Blues with Tom Gabel of Against Me![/i][/indent]
P.S. A comment by baddabing - [b]Shane was awake and making sense AND being funny, my god what have they done with the real shane??[/b] - is by far the bestest :lol:
