The Medusa Fora

Shane's gig in Bergen was fantastic.He looked great the singing was great.Some problems with the guitar sound thats all.Kelly on banjo was awesome.seen Shane 5 times now in 10 years.But i never seen him looked bether on stage dancing,and joking. The gig got slaughtered in the newspapers but fuck them they was probaly angry because they had to work late
my score 10 out of 10

set list as far as i remember
if i should fall
rock n roll paddy
back in the county hell
mother mo
dirty old town
instrumental
body
brown eyes
streams
skipping rhymes
greenland
more pricks
b.m.s
sally
sick bed
irish rover
rainy night
angel of death
bottle of smoke

Shane seemed to be in great mood. One of the local papers headline said: It's time to give up. I will scan a photo from one of them and post it when I get home from work. BA wrote that several people threw beer glasses onto the stage. I only saw that happen once, and it was an empty one. They also wrote that most people left. It seemed to me to be the opposite. I was at the front I could barely move because of all the people trying to get forward.
Bergens tidende review http://www.bt.no/bergenpuls/konsert/article365284
BA review http://www.ba.no/puls/musikk/konsert/article1574092.ece

Greetings to Tobias and all the others I shared a few drinks with.
Cheers to everyone else.
Øyvind

Sounds good!!
The trouble with some reviewers is that basically they've written their review before they get there. When it comes to Shane, they know something of the history, and they've decided what they're going to say.

I don't know what other people think, but I think its great that Shane has started playing more post-Pogues stuff i.e. More pricks than kicks etc. Sounded a brilliant gig, hopefully he'll come down to the south-west!

it sounds like a great consert!!! damn it i should've been there!! what was i thinking!

i've red the reviews and it seems like the people who wrote them don't know much about shane..

people who write reviews for shane (even if they hevent heard of him before) are so one-minded because they dont know what to expect so when they see a slightly pissed guy, little tubby not really seeming to be making an effort, they write a shitty review blah blah fucking blah.....................


but as fans of shane, certainly wen I saw him, the most important factor for me was he made an effort, it may not seem it from someone that doesnt know him like his fans, u know as long as the fans are happy, the bands happy, shane's happy, the cunts from the pappers and magazines can fuck off!

what date was if on and sorry my norweign a bit rusty whats the general review say in english?

angry because they had to work late

sad people that call going to a shane macgowan gig 'working late' are really sad fuckers. If I was in that job I'd want to work late very night of the fucking week.

The national newspaper Dagbladet have also written a story on the gig now. They have simply quoted the BA review and added some old pictures of a slightly drunk Shane and called it the standard type of performance.

http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2005/05/07/431118.html

Lade wrote:http://www.dagbladet.no/kultur/2005/05/07/431118.html

the headline is patetic!

i don't think shane is the drunkest man that EVER been on a stage
in bergen..

was shane as drunk as the reviews say.. Lade??

Nothing near as drunks as they say in the reviews. And I never saw a bottle of whiskey. Only a bottle of white wine which he hardly touched.

Shane seemed almost to sober! I don´t understand were they got all that shit from? If he would have some alcohol in him, perhaps he could have treated us with a smile. But with the price of six pounds per bear in Norway, I really understand why he didn´t

The only bad thing (accept for the two hours delaye) was the lack of instrument. The instrumental song, without an acordion was not my favorite version. A Thin Wistle always rises a song to another level aswell.


Pardon my english with all the possibel spelling misstakes, but I am to lazy to correct it with an dictionary.

forgot to mention he also played donegal express. Yes Lade i agree i never seen Shane drink so little on stage. And there was no whiskey on stage. I stood in the front and i think everybody there had a good time. When the gig was over the place was still packed, so cant belive that many left before the gig was over. I sent a email to the journalist who gave Shane 1 this is his e-mail if anyone want to sent him your opinion per.lindberg@ba.no The problem with his artickle is that it is full of lies and i fear that maybe Shane wont get gigs in Norway because of some lies in the newspapers. Anyway i loved every minute of the gig, Howe long did Shane play by the way.(80 90 minutes?)

Pardon my english with all the possibel spelling misstakes, but I am to lazy to correct it with an dictionary.

I live in the country and I cant be bothered!!!

But I was also wondering why the popes dont have a acccordian or tin-whistle player anymore, I'm not conplianing about the sound but just wondering!1

I guess the problem with reviewers is that many of them pigeonhole Shane as a „notorious drunkard“, and being lazy, they stick to this presumption instead of bothering to assess the actual performance. From a Czech review of Shane’s last year’s gig in Prague: „The saddest thing is that MacGowan currently draws public attention more for his notorious alcoholism than for the dim remains of his once unique talent. If he had arrived sober, it would probably have been a disappointment – at least for the bunch of fans closest to the stage who hedonistically spilled beer over one another.“ Hmmm... more likely it would have been a disappointment for the reviewer himself as he would have lost the chance to confirm his expectations and picture the gig as a gigantic booze-up.

On the other hand, if somebody comes to Shane’s gig expecting vocal acrobatics and a spick-and-span look of the latest Pop Idol winner, he/she might be a bit surprised and get the impression that „only unitelligible mumbling and inarticulate shouts spilled from Shane’s toothless mouth“ (quote from the same review).

Well, let reviewers scribble their little opuses. The only bad luck is that there might be people who take reviews seriously...

Journalist ALWAYS make stuff up! Finish the job asap and get on with the next one ... I know of many reviews of gigs by journalists who weren't there! They just dig up some old reviews, change a few words and recycle it ..