The Medusa Fora

Was Liverpool Echo Arena 2009 the worst Pogues gig ever?

Guest wrote:Was Liverpool Echo Arena 2009 the worst Pogues gig ever?

Bless!

The concert 1990/91 in Vienna. Shane was absolutely not in a form and at the end of the concert he fell into the audience.

Bless

ha.

The worst Pogues gig is the one you missed. Because there's nothing worse than missing the Pogues.

So was the Liverpool 09 gig a standard pogues gig?

firehazard wrote:The worst Pogues gig is the one you missed. Because there's nothing worse than missing the Pogues.

Pure brilliance.

Guest wrote:So was the Liverpool 09 gig a standard pogues gig?

It's probably fair to say that Best and Worst are subjective. There is no (that I'm aware of) official list where all the gigs are rated and sorted.

It was that bizarre all sitting down night where we all didn't sit down.
I thought the band performed really well. I had a really good time, but then, I always do.
It was in Liverpool so (of course) loses marks for that.

When the band came offstage was there the same sense after, say, walking offstage at the end of the Manchester GMEX Gig? Or was there a sense that the seats had made the gig worse?

Guest wrote:Was Liverpool Echo Arena 2009 the worst Pogues gig ever?

Nobody can answer your question as no one person has been to EVERY gig to make that comparison (has any band member even played at every show?) Maybe your question should be "What's Your Worst Gig?"

What about some of the early stories of on-stage fights and chips been fired at the band? Were they the worst or the best? I don't know but i'd love to have been there

My own worst gig had nothing to do with the band. The Point Theatre, Dublin, a half emptyl pit which, due to a stupid policy of handing out wrist bands at the front door to the first people to enter the premises even if they had seating tickets and also to people who are happy to stand further back to enjoy the gig. This lead to frustrated fans with no wrist bands being told they can't go down to the front and mosh where there was tons of room. They ended up annoying everyone else. Thank fuck they bulldozed it

Bring on The Olympia and Brixton in December

Fr. McGreer wrote:Maybe your question should be "What's Your Worst Gig?"

Ahh. Well that's a different story then.

Without a doubt my worst gig was Fuji Rock Festival, 2005.

I spent however many Yen on a train ticket from Tokyo. Got to the event (where Foo Fighters were to play on the main stage). Spent the afternoon watching other bands (they were loud - very very loud) and getting rained on. The Pogues took the stage at 8:00(ish), but due to the train schedule and event shuttle schedule I had to leave at 8:30. I saw three songs, then had to listen to them fade into the distance as I trudged up the valley to the shuttle queue. Queued for forty-five minutes, then rode the shuttle for an hour. The shuttle let us off at the curb of the train station one minute (ONE MINUTE) before the last train to Tokyo was scheduled to leave and if you know anything about Japan's rail lines then you know they're fricken prompt. Everyone on the shuttle sprinted up the stairs and down long marble-walled and marble-floored corridors. While I was sprinting I heard from behind me I heard a horrible sound that the instinctive part of my brain registered as "very expensive." Skittering across the marble, somehow overtaking me, were various small parts from my (at the time) very expensive camera with a friend's loaned even more expensive lens still attached to the body. I scooped up the parts and shoved them into my camera bag (the zipper had worked loose during the sprint) and resumed the sprinting. I made it to the platform just in time to see the train's red lights rapidly accelerating out of the station.

So ... Another shuttle back to the event site. By the time we arrive it's 11:30pm (at least). The Pogues have LONG since finished their set. Foo Fighters have finished theirs. There's nowhere to stay. I spent the night wrapped tightly in my Dryzabone (well ... nearly spent the night - at first I huddled up at the back edge of the lawn where Foo Fighters had been, but after a half hour Security came by and woke me up. They spoke only one word of English - "No! No!" - and making the "X" symbol of two crossed forearms. So I relocated down to where the all-night DJs were spinning and slept under some bushes while listening to some terrible Hip Hop DJ MCing "When I say YO! you say HOOO!"). The next morning in the pre-dawn light I took another shuttle to the train, spent $60 for another train ticket, got back to my hotel, and slept for 20 hours.

For those who might be curious - the camera wanted $30 in parts and $550 for the labor to re-attach them. Fortunately the camera had padded the fall of the lens so my friends' Even More Expensive lens required no repair or replacement.


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Note: Edited for clarity and bad writing.

DzM wrote:

Fr. McGreer wrote:Maybe your question should be "What's Your Worst Gig?"

Ahh. Well that's a different story then.

Without a doubt my worst gig was Fuji Rock Festival, 2005.

I spent however many Yen on a train ticket from Tokyo. Got to the event (where Foo Fighters were to play on the main stage). Spent the afternoon watching other bands (they were loud - very very loud) and getting rained on. The Pogues took the stage at 8:00(ish), but due to the train schedule and event shuttle schedule I had to leave at 8:30. I saw three songs, then had to listen to them fade into the distance as I trudged up the valley to the shuttle queue. Queued for forty-five minutes, then route the shuttle for an hour. The shuttle let us off at the curb of the train station one minute (ONE MINUTE) before the last train to Tokyo was scheduled to leave, and if you know anything about Japan's rail lines then you know they're fricken prompt. Everyone on the shuttle sprinted up the stairs and down long marble walled and floored corridors. From behind me I heard a horrible sound that the instinctive part of my brain registered as "expensive sound." And skittering across the marble, somehow overtaking me, were the various small parts from my (at the time) very expensive camera with a friend's loaned even more expensive lens. I scooped up the parts and shoved them into my camera bag (the zipper had worked loose during the sprint) and resumed the sprinting. I made it just in time to see the train's red lights rapidly accelerating out of the station.

So ... Another shuttle back to the event site. By the time we're let off it's 11:30pm (at least). The Pogues have LONG since finished their set. Foo Fighters have finished theirs. There's nowhere to stay. I spent the night wrapped tightly in my Dryzabone (well ... nearly spent the night - at first I huddled up at the back edge of the lawn where Foo Fighters had been, but after a half hour Security came by and woke me up. They spoke only one word of English - "No! No!" - and making the "X" symbol of two crossed forearms. So I relocated down to where the all-night DJs were spinning and slept under some bushes while listening to some terrible Hip Hop DJ saying "When I say YO! you say HOOO!"). The next morning in the pre-dawn light I took another shuttle to the train, spent my $60 for another train ticket, got back to my hotel, and slept for 20 hours.

For those who might be curious - the camera wanted $30 in parts and $550 for the label to attach them. Fortunately the camera had padded the fall of the lens, so my friends' Even More Expensive lens required no repair or replacement.

I think you win DzM

NewJerseyRich wrote:I think you win DzM

I've already got DzM. Whatever shall I do with more?

And besides - it's not about winning.

And more besides - Unlike Phro37, I haven't been chucked out of a show. So there's that.

DzM wrote:

NewJerseyRich wrote:I think you win DzM

I've already got DzM. Whatever shall I do with more?

And besides - it's not about winning.

And more besides - Unlike Phro37, I haven't been chucked out of a show. So there's that.

This is true, but this is one the top 5 worst I think I've ever heard. Although one of my best friends had a night separated from our group and ended with falling asleep on a NYC subway and being robbed.