Hamburg 4.8.2010

[Sportin' Life]

He could have at least mentioned, how Das Band war toll und Risse wurden für die Hungersnot verschüttet.

[Uwe from Berlin]

The problem is, a good reviewer can't be unbiased, otherwise he wouldn't have done his homework properly.
But they tend to miss the point when they have to deal with the sensation of an "unexpected comeback", focusing mainly on the state they find the troubled star in instead of the show he's a part of.
It's the same thing whenever someone like, say, Brian Wilson was in town. Then you can always read about an old man sitting pale faced behind an unused keybard reading his lines from a prompter and struggling with the rests of his ruined voice, and most part of the article is about biographical stereotypes like staying in bed for years after heavy drug abuse, the controversial therapist, an abandoned masterpiece and so on, we all know that I think. No mention of a whole audience being on it's feet dancing and crying, moved to tears and celebrating the immortal legacy of a 20th centuries musical genius, thanks to a brilliant bunch of fabulous musicians totally dedicated to the man and his music. It's not even a real "review", but that would be a far less interesting read, wouldn't it?

[PADDYgoesDUTCH]

Not all guys of that age necessarily follow that description you give, Uwe. May I repeat the example of Bruce Springsteen? Still very fit, creative, productive, politically involved and what not. That Shane was grand in the 80s and that he wrote some brilliant stuff back then, does not need to lead to the denial of the fact that he no longer is in good shape, does it? I love the Pogues, no misunderstanding there, but I can see the point in such a review. Few years ago, I went to a replay of Eurocup Final 1970 between Feyenoord and Celtic. The same players, not the same performance. Regrettably, that's where we are with Shane.

[DzM]

Google Comedy Translation:

The Pogues are back with Shane MacGowan her heart - and yet have lost
Stefan Krull

And the shark has teeth. The Shane but now has no more, even if it only on Christmas Day the 53th Birthday is imminent. The singing was the broken baritone of the Western world never a virtue, does no one dance passably well, without losing the microphone stand on stage like the balance.

Without Shane MacGowan, but is actually his brilliant band The Pogues are a nothing, they have even seen, after the unstable drunkard once drove from their midst.

Now he is back, the Englishman with Irish roots, and does indeed vulnerable, but somehow protect his Pogues. But what is this band with him today?

A very pleasant relic, you might say. The early eighties they invented probably a bit random crowd-pulling a hybrid of Irish folk and punk, which is gleefully wallowed in the gutter, now their music is indeed to stay in the picture, the bite came a little lost, it won many admirers are . In the city park at least one was on Wednesday evening not too far from the plate Sold "" hang.

The average audience was mostly a beer before him, and a T-shirt on now rare juvenile body, the sympathy with the "Dropkick Murphys" testified another band that tries penetrant for years to brush chart hits on the Pogues-style, mostly unpleasant against the grain. Here, however, Shane was himself in the middle, amazingly schwankungsarm, all in black and wearing a hat and mumbled and Nölte and drooled all the beautiful old hits her in front of you. It started with "Streams Of Whiskey" and carried on "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" and "Dirty Old Town", finally to the "Irish Rover".

Completely unsentimental and selflessly offered MacGowan is now the public meat inspection. The dental remains of earlier days have passed, not the lips visible, virtually all of his poems completely incomprehensible, but somehow the little guy comes in the struggle for survival. Sometimes he screams guttural to rich sky clouds, four times he takes a small break, he tried a bumpy "Dankescheen and bridge gaps with creative text Lalala. When he then, after the second of five encores, the entgegenbranden cheers and the applause loud, he picks up a bottle with dark contents and empties it almost Ex. then blur the final verbal announcements to the swamp and find the event its early end. The stands are also around 30 minutes later still open and well frequented. What Shane is doing well now, what he can do at all, the interest here just anyone. People can be so cruel.

[Uwe from Berlin]

Not all guys of that age necessarily follow that description you give, Uwe.

But that's exactly my point! That's why I mentioned Brian Wilson (not Shane's age at all) as one of the same "category": troubled genius, infamous for selfdestructive behaviour, written off as a has-been for years, then rather surprisingly returning to stage on a regular basis, widely recognized as an unexpected survivor, just not being what he used to be anymore. Do you really need a "reviewer" to tell you the most obvious things? Am I expecting too much wanting to know what the guys nevertheless still are capable to give after going through all this, in case I couldn't be there myself? If the unbiased observer reporting for his paper wasn't too impressed, he is perfectly entitled to his opinion, of course. But if he found himself surrounded by excitement on all levels, he must have realized there COULD be something that was just beyond him, instead of making "funny" comments about the "less than juvenile" body of the "average" beer-drinking attandee. Maybe the show really wasn't as good as previous ones, but he doesn't even compare. He is just interested in a drunken singer mumbling and drooling, who has seen better times ages ago. So what?
If I wouldn't have seen the show, after reading that article it would never occur to me I could have missed something.
Seems to me, that "unbiased" writer's preconception on the one hand was at least as unconditioned as our love for the Pogues on the other.

[philipchevron]

Google Comedy Translation:

The Pogues are back with Shane MacGowan her heart - and yet have lost
Stefan Krull

And the shark has teeth. The Shane but now has no more, even if it only on Christmas Day the 53th Birthday is imminent. The singing was the broken baritone of the Western world never a virtue, does no one dance passably well, without losing the microphone stand on stage like the balance.

Without Shane MacGowan, but is actually his brilliant band The Pogues are a nothing, they have even seen, after the unstable drunkard once drove from their midst.

Now he is back, the Englishman with Irish roots, and does indeed vulnerable, but somehow protect his Pogues. But what is this band with him today?

A very pleasant relic, you might say. The early eighties they invented probably a bit random crowd-pulling a hybrid of Irish folk and punk, which is gleefully wallowed in the gutter, now their music is indeed to stay in the picture, the bite came a little lost, it won many admirers are . In the city park at least one was on Wednesday evening not too far from the plate Sold "" hang.

The average audience was mostly a beer before him, and a T-shirt on now rare juvenile body, the sympathy with the "Dropkick Murphys" testified another band that tries penetrant for years to brush chart hits on the Pogues-style, mostly unpleasant against the grain. Here, however, Shane was himself in the middle, amazingly schwankungsarm, all in black and wearing a hat and mumbled and Nölte and drooled all the beautiful old hits her in front of you. It started with "Streams Of Whiskey" and carried on "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" and "Dirty Old Town", finally to the "Irish Rover".

Completely unsentimental and selflessly offered MacGowan is now the public meat inspection. The dental remains of earlier days have passed, not the lips visible, virtually all of his poems completely incomprehensible, but somehow the little guy comes in the struggle for survival. Sometimes he screams guttural to rich sky clouds, four times he takes a small break, he tried a bumpy "Dankescheen and bridge gaps with creative text Lalala. When he then, after the second of five encores, the entgegenbranden cheers and the applause loud, he picks up a bottle with dark contents and empties it almost Ex. then blur the final verbal announcements to the swamp and find the event its early end. The stands are also around 30 minutes later still open and well frequented. What Shane is doing well now, what he can do at all, the interest here just anyone. People can be so cruel.

"Does no one dance passably well?"It's a question I ask at least once a week.

[DzM]

"Does no one dance passably well?" It's a question I ask at least once a week.

It's one of the great mysteries of life.


I was honestly surprised to not see a fleeting mention of "the singer was drunk, the band was fantastic, and tears were shed for the famine." I suspect the original piece was much longer but the editors (not knowing the tradition) trimmed the "band was fantastic, tears" part.

[Low D]

That is some beautiful poetry right there.

Google Comedy Translation:

And the shark has teeth.

The average audience was mostly a beer before him, and a T-shirt on now rare juvenile body,

Completely unsentimental and selflessly offered MacGowan is now the public meat inspection.

[Cdn Steve]

"Does no one dance passably well?"It's a question I ask at least once a week.

I worked with a guy who used to say "I remember when you danced WITH 'em, not AT 'em"

[Funkfuzzi]

There were numerous great dance moves on and off stage to be seen if my memory is working correctly...

Looked awesome in Parts...

[jakob]

The article is just right. Even if some people are not able to accept this.

[in_the_morning]

and Shane arrived on stage sometime in the third song they played or so..

He was there on stage right from the start of the show.

[Uwe from Berlin]

I met two friends last night who were with me at the Berlin gig without any proper imagination of what to expect from it, more or less just trusting me. They were still humming some of the tunes, had bought the Ultimate Collection in the meantime, demanded for my CDs with the original album contents and wouldn't stop to thank me (ME!) for the great evening we experienced together.
No "fans" at all until now, but heavily infected by the Pogues virus after seeing the show. How come?
It's because you don't necessarily need to understand (or already know by heart) every word that ist sung or spoken to get the impression. You don't need the beautiful voice of a passable dancer with a mouth full of his original teeth.
What you need is a singer who hits the intended expression, and in some cases a drunken singer even might add something quite essential to that, like it or not. Always has, by the way, and there were much worse things happening 20+ years ago than nowadays, as we all know.
AND of course you need a band not only willing and able to follow that path, but leading it to the right direction.
So, to say "the band is nothing without this singer", like the article does, is as stupid as the opposite. They do need each other to be what they are as the "original" Pogues, that might be true. But the whole generalization, from the quoted statement to the silly comments about the "cruel" audience in the end and almost everything in between, let alone the complete missing of a remark regarding the band's performance or anything at all that couldn't as well be said about any other of their live appearances in the past few years, just shows how the author doesn't have the slightest idea what he is talking about. How can anybody say "it's just right" instead of "it's just irrelevant"? Sorry, but I don't get it.

[Funkfuzzi]

and Shane arrived on stage sometime in the third song they played or so..

He was there on stage right from the start of the show.

Yeah, you're right...i meant: he "arrived" in terms of singing the right words at the right time... At least in Münster it took the first two songs to get the Mac going...

[jakob]

Allright, the article isn't completely right, but the base significative is, that shane needs help as far as possible, otherwise just a miracle can make him in life. I saw him in Hamburg and was shocked about his state.