Splendour Festival, Nottingham - July 19, 2009

[soulfinger]

Shane must've missed his bus as the lads came on stage and, after some standing around without him, launched into Repeal. He managed to shamble on at the end of this and with a grin and "Here's our first number" went into Streams of Whiskey. The boys were in rip it up form and it was wild down at the front. Little Miss soulfinger held her own, delivering a mighty elbow to some offensive eejit. With time of the essence, we got a real zip through a Best of the Pogues type set. Highlights were The Broad Majestic Shannon, a brilliant singalong Dirty Old Town, a fairly poor singalong of Happy Birthday and a sublime Thousands are Sailing (which Philip dedicated to the local hospitals - to big cheers). I can't remember which song it was but Shane was clearly enjoying the boys playing so much he forgot to join in with his contribution of singing; the boys are so adept at taking him round to the point of entry again it was just brilliant to see.
It seemed like only minutes before Fiesta was done.

Other highlights were Imelda May, Kid British (the wee girl was right about them) and (to my surprise) The Fun Lovin' Criminals. Madness were OK but we were a long way back and I decided to call it a night after half an hour of their set.

It was great to meet trashcity (what an absolutely top bloke) and his lovely wife .

[mctoon]

Nee one else go to Notts?,, my mate let me down with the tickets,, and after reading a few posts about the madness fans in the smoke i think that wasnt a bad thing. fuck them we can have our concerts at xmas.. Roll on Xmas.. or the Fall in USA if my numbers come up

[DownInTheGround]

I enjoyed it, may have just been me, but I thought Shane's sound was too low or maybe he wasn't singing loud enough. Philip, thousands was awesome, really glad to see you again and rocking away. Did you have to cut a few songs, some staples seemed to be missingm(tuesday Morning, Boys From The County Hell) was that something to do with Shanes lateness, because we seemed to eb waiting hours (the rain may have contributed to that)

Either way, good show. Madness were really good, especially towards the end of the set as the bigger numbers came out. Oh and I agree Imedla May was very good, hullava voice x

[philipchevron]

I enjoyed it, may have just been me, but I thought Shane's sound was too low or maybe he wasn't singing loud enough. Philip, thousands was awesome, really glad to see you again and rocking away. Did you have to cut a few songs, some staples seemed to be missingm(tuesday Morning, Boys From The County Hell) was that something to do with Shanes lateness, because we seemed to eb waiting hours (the rain may have contributed to that)

Either way, good show. Madness were really good, especially towards the end of the set as the bigger numbers came out. Oh and I agree Imedla May was very good, hullava voice x

We went on stage at exactly the scheduled time (admittedly, Shane arrived two minutes later) and played for the scheduled 60 minutes. Time is always at a premium at these events and usually only the main headliner does their full show.

[DownInTheGround]

Must just have been the rain. Did anyone else notice the Legal Highs stall. Is said COKE, TRIPS and PILLS, with a ting 'legal disclaimer printed above. Surely this is only semi legal and surely the event would not have wanted them there? Is this common at most festivals? first time I have seen one.

[markrolfe]

Long time reader of this forum but this gig has tempted me to finally post...

I've seen the pogues just twice since their reform and once previously in 1993 at Wollaton Hall in Nottingham with no Shane. I have to say I was worried about Shane on Sunday, he seemed more wasted than usual and more limited in movement... I said to my wife at the time I had a really bad feeling it would be the last time I saw him! His vocals and speech were absolutely shocking and worse than usual shows. However he did warm up as the gig went on and I thought the band did a great job of raising the bar...the gig ended wonderfully. I also thought there seemed to be some tension on stage which I have never noted before and Spider seemed really annoyed and confused by Shane at times... I hope I'm wrong. On a second note seeing Phil singing Thousands was amazing and a lump in the throat moment..... I still loved the gig to pieces but I thought Shane was very very worrying.

[markrolfe]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YUuVqIzw ... re=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsnWL310cxo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5fNp8E2 ... re=related

[iangould]

Doesn't this site allow me to go back and edit posts? I've just read that last one back to myself and can hardly understand it! What I meant to say was:

The last gig I'd been to was in Manchester before Christmas where the songs just got lost among Shane's shambolic state. After the 'highlights' of Shane falling over and being unable to get up, going off on something else while the band was doing Sally Mac, and Fairytale having to be stopped as Shane had completely lost the poor girl drafted in to play Kirsty, I was ready to call it a day with regard to watching the boys, but Sunday has won me over again. I think three things made this one oh so much better:

1 Shane (believe it or not) was fairly compos mentis in comparison
2 The rest of band have improved at compensating for Shane's, shalll we say, shortcomings (and point 1 makes it easier for them)
3 Phil's back! I think this has a big bearing on point 2, as well as his musicianship and the basic idea that it always helps to have a guitarist, doesn't it?

[Zuzana]

Doesn't this site allow me to go back and edit posts?

Ian, registered members CAN edit their posts. Registering takes just a minute, so if you are interested in staying around, go on and do it !
I've removed the un-edited message to avoid double-posting.

[Gouldy]

Ta for that. I thought I was already registered on this site (although admittedly I haven't had much to say lately) but apparently not! Still, all done now!

[Jim]

Hi,

Sunday was about the 30th time I have seen the pogues over more years than I care to remember but I thought they were excellent and Shane was pretty good only really messing up at the end a couple of times on Fiesta after initial worries when he was late out on stage. All the fans there also seemed very good to me with everyone having a great time despite the rain.

One highlight was a woman near the front who decided to keep a large umbrella up during the start of the set blocking the view of many people. She would not put it down despite a couple of protests so the people behind threw a couple of pints over her underneath the umbrella after which she retracted it!

The beer was rather expensive though at £3 per can! Madness were also excellent but I would rather they had dropped their new songs and given The Pogues the extra 30 minutes. I will post some links to a few videos on YouTube when I get someone to upload them for me,

Jim

[trashcity]

I had a great day. Kid British and Imelda May were early highlights, as was bumping into soulfinger and his daughter, who has clearly inherited her dads ear for a good tune.

I havent seen The Pogues for a few years due to the tightening of belts that parenthood brings, but what a gig. The band were on top form as ever, Shane seemed really engaged with the songs. much more so than the last time i saw him.(which would\ve been christmas 2006 i think) There was a ferociousness to his delivery of the quicker tunes i havent seen for a while andthe slower tunes just get better with age,, specially rainy night in soho and broad majestic shannon. Thousands are sailing just soared, its good to see that recent events have taken none of the soul from your voice Mr C.

Loved Madness too, theres something about hearing Baggy Trousers, Bed And Breakfast Man and the like that transports me back to being ten again, And having some fine new material to play seems to have invigorated them.

Best thirty quid i've spent in a while.

[Jim]

Hi,

as promised first 3 vids of the Pogues at Nottingham have been uploaded at:-

Thousands - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ScQC6_vuxO4

Turkish - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRI8veyjD98

Sunnyside - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7z09lM9xfXE

Jim

[Jim]

Fiesta - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doKol4WtTDU