-The Independent:We will continue to pay... (Brixton review)

[johnfoyle]

'We will continue to pay to see Shane MacGowan, provided he does his job'

Tales of the City

John Walsh
23 December 2008
The Independent

Full URL

It was the whirling lager bottle that did it. I'd gone to see The Pogues perform at Brixton Academy for the fourth year running, and this year I'd taken my two eldest children. They'd been listening to the music of the London-Irish band since they were in romper suits, and they'd heard about the legendary Christmas concerts, where everyone sings along to the bittersweet lyrics of "Fairytale of New York" and weeps when the snow cascades down.

The Academy is a staggeringly down-at-heel music venue, where the smell of vomit hits you as you walk in, the queues at the bar resemble the crush at the start of the London Marathon, and the sucky floor seems to drag at your shoes like the great bog of Doone; but the sight-lines are terrific, and the band, especially the masterly James Fearnley on accordion, played as well as, or better than, I've ever heard them.

And then there was Shane MacGowan, for 20 years the walking, staggering epitome of the talented piss artist, the drunken angel, the self-destructive boho genius who needs a bottle of Jameson inside him before he can express himself, who creates songs of immense beauty from the shambolic, toothless wreckage of his own life... Well, Shane was extremely drunk.

I realise that this revelation isn't going to win prizes for shock value, but I've seen The Pogues many times, and something changed inside me as I watched their leader screw up a good concert. In the past, an understanding has existed between the band and their fans. We will continue to pay to see Shane as a wayward songwriting genius, amusingly, triumphantly sloshed day and night, provided he does his job and sings the words without expiring or throwing up over the front row. MacGowan has, in the past, displayed a mysterious talent for remembering all the words to his songs, even when he is legless; then he'll forget the opening line of "Fairytale", and everyone will say, "Isn't he a caution?" and go home delighted and tell their friends they've seen the wild Pogue in action.

It's not like that any more. He wandered on to the Academy stage in a long, black tramp's overcoat, holding a bottle of wine, a table of drinks in plastic cups was waiting beside his mic, and he kicked off with "Streams of Whiskey". It's been a while since MacGowan was able to hit any note, but he carried the first few tunes by brute force, and the band tootled and banjoed and accordioned with an attack that carried the singer's shouty-slurry vocals.

After the half-way mark, though, things went to hell. MacGowan's timing packed up. He missed the start note of choruses. He forgot words, then whole lines. In one song, he became confused and mumbled the lyrics of the previous song until told to desist by his tin whistle player. It was ghastly. The crowd – a well-oiled, slam-dancing throng, but warm-hearted with it – joyously sang along to "Sally MacLennane", but Shane screwed up the chorus by starting too early.

As the band played at their usual breakneck speed, and the singer struggled (and failed) to keep up, I realised I was sick of feeling fond and indulgent towards artists who cause such destruction to their own works. MacGowan's songs were always so lyrically crammed, they were hard for anyone to sing but himself. Now it was pathetic to watch him, during the super-fast "Bottle of Smoke", trying to recall the odd word of verse or chorus, as the tune galloped past him. Foggily preparing to sing "The Irish Rover", he mumbled, "This is for Ronnie Drew," the late lead singer of The Dubliners, who once duetted with The Pogues on this very song. By the end of it, I wondered what Ronnie D would have thought of his younger friend's rubbish performance, casually parodying the worst drunken-Mick stereotype that the Irish mostly threw off in the last century.

People began to throw plastic cups. McGowan, trying to sing a cappella, swatted them away like Frankenstein's monster swatting away the torches of villagers. Then the guy in front of me flung a lager bottle that described a perfect arc, and landed, like a perfect darts throw, neck-side down in MacGowan's coat pocket. The crowd roared with delight. MacGowan looked up, briefly animated. By God, he'd been right. He knew he could win them over, if only the music stopped racing along. He knew he still had the old magic...

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©independent.co.uk

[Smerker-who cant log in for some reason]

Never mind the rest of the trash -- who would take the academy as a dive?

Yer man want s to get out of the Royal Albert Hall once in a while and try seeing some bands in some of the toilets I've been to.

[dave 81]

The same reviews year after year. The thing that bothers me is that there may have have been "crowd delight," when idiots throw paper, plastic, or glass at the band.
Reminds me of the hat thief.
Pretty fucking sad statements.

[chatterbox]

Although I was not in Brixton, the Dublin gig could quite easily have been reviewed like that. I'm getting fed up of watching MacGowan screw up songs while the rest of the band try to slow themselves down, or stop altogether, in order for him to catch up. I got the feeling that the rest of the band are very very constricted by MacGowans erratic singing.

[in_the_morning]

I've sadly never seen the Pogues live (nor in the old days, neither today), but what I've seen on youtube (where you can find many many videos of today's Pogues-shows) comes quite close to the review. I think it is actually a bit sad, because the songs that Shane MacGowan and his bandmates wrote are so brilliant and beautiful, and the band plays at a very high level (from what it sounds like on youtube). And then Shane MacGowan screws up the songs that once sounded so great and that he himself once sang so brilliant. I wanted to visit a Pogues show last year, but I live in Germany and I would have to buy a plane ticket and rent a hotel and everything, and just to see MacGowan fucking up his own (brilliant) songs? I don't know, really, I mean, I want to see them, because those 8 guys are obviously brilliant, but a "proper" show (in terms of having a lead singer who sings "properly") would be nicer.

[James]

Hi, in the morning (where does all the pain, go same place the fame goes, straight to your head? Is that where that's from? Wicked song.)

It's really nice to see a new member on here.
I'm not having a go, but do you think youtube videos are really the way to judge the quality of any kind of performance? I know it's all you have to base your opinions on but it's a little like judging a beautiful woman from a blurry dark photograph.

Or for a few of the videos of the Singer at his worst, that have spread round the internet like a viral of their own, would you like someone to judge you based on meeting you once when you were mashed off your face on something or other? Then telling everyone in the world that's who you are, because that's more interesting than a normal person. That's sort of the same too.

I think for the shows where not everyone's firing on all cylinders, your people have a great saying; Danke Schoen!

[in_the_morning]

@ Smerker: Thank you! Well, I got "in the morning" actually from "Sally McLennane", it is the live version on the box set, where the whole audience goes like "IN THE MOOORNING!", that got me.

Well, I'm sorry, you're right. It is unfair to judge the live shows of the Pogues by the videos on youtube. Actually the quality of those videos (the sound quality) is always poor, because it is very loud in those halls and sometimes it is filmed with a mobilephone. But I think you can't denie that Shane MacGowans singing quality from the new shows (of the last few years) is not very well sometimes, compared to his old days where he sounded so raw, loud and full of energy but beautiful at the same time.

I know that boulevard press reviews are always kind of crap, because they are usually not very true. And I think that the Pogues shows are still a great laugh and brilliant time today. I just meant that it is a bit sad to see Shane MacGowan fucking up his genius work, the stuff HE wrote. That's the sad think. Just because he is too drunk. Don't get me wrong here, I love to drink and I know that alcohol had a huge influence on Shane MacGowan's songs and life and writing. I think drinking tea at a Pogues gig doesn't fit very well. But as an entertainer, songwriter and singer, you shouldn't drink so much that you can't perform properly. That's what I meant. I mean I don't want to judge Shane MacGowan here, it is his buisness, he can drink and take any drug he wants, because he's got every right to do what he wants. But it's just a bit sad, and if you pay loads of money for a Pogues show and you want to see them and you are really happy and then the lead singer screws up the brilliant music, well...

[James]

Well, I'm sorry, you're right. It is unfair to judge the live shows of the Pogues by the videos on youtube. Actually the quality of those videos (the sound quality) is always poor, because it is very loud in those halls and sometimes it is filmed with a mobilephone. But I think you can't denie that Shane MacGowans singing quality from the new shows (of the last few years) is not very well sometimes, compared to his old days where he sounded so raw, loud and full of energy but beautiful at the same time.

Quality's always going to be something for people to debate, isn't it? Some love the way he sounds at the moment, others think it was all down hill from the Nips. (And if there isn't some lunatic out there who thinks that, there should be.)

My personal favourite period for Shane's voice is on the Poguetry EP. But he was never exactly Luke Kelly or John MacCormack, was he?

I've said on here before, I think the muddier, growly, deepened with age voice works great for some songs, like Rainy Night In Soho or If I Should Fall From Grace. On Streams Of Whiskey or most of the first album stuff the higher notes can tend to get a little out of reach. Quality's always going to be something for people to debate, isn't it?

[in_the_morning]

Quality's always going to be something for people to debate, isn't it?

Yeah that's true, for sure. But I suppose in the old days Shane was a brilliant singer, in terms of making you feel something. There were so many emotions in his voice, you could hear the raw pain. Well that's what I can say from the studio albums and the live performances I've seen, unfortunately I wasn't born when the Pogues were around so I couldn't see them in 1980- what ever.

But if you listen to "I love you more and more every day" on Youtube from a performance of Shane MacGowan a few weeks or months ago on TV, you can actually hear that he can't hit the high notes very well. But yeah, in a special way, it does sound great, still today.

Well if I get the opportunity and the money and the Pogues are still playing I'm going to see them. But I really wish there was a time maschine which could beam me back into the 80s.

Editing:

Well I don't want to judge Shane MacGowan, anyway. He did what he did, he felt it was right and it was and still is his buisness.