The Medusa Fora

I wondered what people's views might be on the following.

Having now been to one of the Brixton Academy shows each year since the reunion of the the classic "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" line up, I think it would be good for the band to try something different from a live point of view. I am not saying that the Christmas shows should stop, far from it as I think most would agree that the band is playing perhaps as tight as ever but perhaps there is scope for some additional live events.

It is quite a trend at the moment for bands to perform their classic albums live in track order. This year I saw SLF perform "Inflammable Material" as part of Massive Attack's meltdown and in January 2009 I have tickets for the Buzzcocks who are performing "Another Music In A Different Kitchen" and "Love Bites"

I would love to see the Pogues perform "Red Roses For Me" and "Rum Sodomy & The Lash" like this. This could be taken to an extreme, is there any artistic merit in seeing the band stripped down musically to how they were at incepetion. For example Andrew with a two piece drum kit. I realise this is potentially quite controversial in that it would mean no multi instrumentalism of Terry and touches on areas of past controversy e.g. Shane's role playing the guitar/Philip's involvement.

I think this comes from the fact that I first saw the Pogues at the Brighton Centre at around the time of the Hell's Ditch Album and have been an avid reader of the band's history and would love to experience what that original six piece would have sounded like live on those instruments....

I would also love to hear live some of the album tracks that we just never hear at the Christmas gigs.

Charlie W wrote:I wondered what people's views might be on the following.

Having now been to one of the Brixton Academy shows each year since the reunion of the the classic "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" line up, I think it would be good for the band to try something different from a live point of view. I am not saying that the Christmas shows should stop, far from it as I think most would agree that the band is playing perhaps as tight as ever but perhaps there is scope for some additional live events.

It is quite a trend at the moment for bands to perform their classic albums live in track order. This year I saw SLF perform "Inflammable Material" as part of Massive Attack's meltdown and in January 2009 I have tickets for the Buzzcocks who are performing "Another Music In A Different Kitchen" and "Love Bites"

I would love to see the Pogues perform "Red Roses For Me" and "Rum Sodomy & The Lash" like this. This could be taken to an extreme, is there any artistic merit in seeing the band stripped down musically to how they were at incepetion. For example Andrew with a two piece drum kit. I realise this is potentially quite controversial in that it would mean no multi instrumentalism of Terry and touches on areas of past controversy e.g. Shane's role playing the guitar/Philip's involvement.

I think this comes from the fact that I first saw the Pogues at the Brighton Centre at around the time of the Hell's Ditch Album and have been an avid reader of the band's history and would love to experience what that original six piece would have sounded like live on those instruments....

I would also love to hear live some of the album tracks that we just never hear at the Christmas gigs.

Without addressing any of your other points, may I just ask whether you think performing the first two albums in their chronological entirety is any safeguard against "Cotton Fields" ending up in the middle of "Greenland Whale Fisheries"?

Yes, I was at Brixton on the Thursday night did not work out at the time that it was Cotton Fields, but well done Spider on the "backing up."

I realise that in reality a track like "Waxie's Dargle" with Shane and and Spider's call and response vocals performed live combined with the actual speed of the song could be intresting. I would love to hear it though, just given the live version a listen on "Just Look Them Sraight In The Eye And Say.... Pogue Mahone!" It has not put me off the idea!

philipchevron wrote:Without addressing any of your other points, may I just ask whether you think performing the first two albums in their chronological entirety is any safeguard against "Cotton Fields" ending up in the middle of "Greenland Whale Fisheries"?

Although in many cases much to the artist's chagrin, I feel these instances make the performance unique and memorable and do not detract from the experience.

Clash Cadillac wrote:

philipchevron wrote:Without addressing any of your other points, may I just ask whether you think performing the first two albums in their chronological entirety is any safeguard against "Cotton Fields" ending up in the middle of "Greenland Whale Fisheries"?

Although in many cases much to the artist's chagrin, I feel these instances make the performance unique and memorable and do not detract from the experience.

I recall once, after a particular song had gone sideways, Shane said something like - "We're not bleedin' Milli Vanilli" .

Every performance IS unique and memorable!