azkena review

[Guest]

i was at the azkena rock festival and the pogues were probably the best band, by far for me! bit cold the first two songs but after that amazing, just brilliant!they came back twice to the stage, people was delighted,they look like they where enjoying themselves, was just great!
and thank you for using the basque language on stage for showing the baasque political prisioners flag, for the gora euskadi before the young man of the hill (no better moment to say it ) and to shane for the performance and for the basque version of up the .... that shane said.
thanks a lot, will not forget this gig, eskerrik asko, slan

[worm]

I was there too, and I agree the performance was great. I ended up exhausted and happy. The battle of Brisbane totally rocked!
The sound could have been better, though...

[Guest]

true about the sound it happen with bad religion and other few bands, but pogues where by far the best

[Guest]

The best performance of the festival by far, and a great "fiesta" to us all!!.
My brother and someone else by my side threw the basque prisoners flag, I was too mad dancing and singing and just realised when Shane got it, he knew exactly what to do!

Eskerrik asko specially to Spider for addressing us some basque words, next time teach Shane please

Good work Mr Chevron, a a nice tie by the way


Susie

[MacRua]

My brother and someone else by my side threw the basque prisoners flag

You mean Ikurrina? Or what flag was it?

[worm]

and they played bottle of smoke!

[Guest]

You mean Ikurrina? Or what flag was it?
_________________
We are just human beings, are we not?

The basque prisoners "flag" (if that could be called so) is not the Ikurriña, it's just a sort of political or social icon requesting basque (some people say political) prisoners to be taken near home. For some "dark" reasons they are all scattered round faraway prisons.
However I am a non-political person and pretty ignorant about it.

I consider myself I human being, do not know what you meant, no matter where we belong to or what we feel. I feel comfortable everywhere but I like my "roots".

Ná glac pioc comhairle gan comhairle ban.

Slan! Susie

[MacRua]

I consider myself I human being, do not know what you meant...

Susie, that's what I DO mean: We are just human beings. Nothing more, nothing less. It's a signature and a permanent reminder. First of all for me, we, Puppet Masters, desperately need it to not lose touch with reality. But others wouldn't be harmed with such contact either

[Hibernator]

I went to the Basque concert, and it was fucking amazing, every body dancing, jumping and singing the songs. At one stage Terry Woods yelled "Freedom for the Basque country!!!" and Shane waved a banner for the return of the Basque prisoners. Shane was drunk (or did he played drunk?) and played with the microfone cable all along. He introduced the songs but he was ununderstandable. Spider said at the end of each song "eskerrik asko" (wich means thank you very much in Basque).

[DzM]

Pogues at Azkena
Review by SatanaicSurferz

Original location

First of all, I am probably the biggest Pogues fan on the whole planet. I have all their studio CDs, EPs, singles, live CDs, bootlegs, videos, DVDs, etc. (near 100 different factory-pressed things, including Shane MacGowan solo stuff).

Unfortunately, I began to love the Pogues way after they split, so I have never had the chance to see them live. They did some reunion shows, but it was always very far from where I live (England/Ireland in 2001, England/Ireland in 2004, Japan/England this year). Being from Québec, Canada, this would have cost a lot of money to see them.

However, I had to go to France on the last week of August and the first of September. My plane tickets were already bought when I heard that they were doing a show in Spain. I didn't hesitate to take a 10-hour car drive detour and give 50 euros in order to see them.

Okay, now about the show.

It was called the Azkena Rock Festival. It was the fourth edition of this two days festival. The first day had Deep Purple, Social Distortion, Wilco, and the Dwarves just to name a few. I wasn't there. The second day had the Pogues, Queens of the Stone Age, Bad Religion, Television, and more.

I was lucky enough to hear the sound check of the Pogues (not see them, just hear) since I came early to buy my ticket. They did "Danny Boy" instrumental and "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" (they did probably more, but I heard only those two). They sounded good, and at least Shane MacGowan was able to sing! This was looking good...

I came back later for the real show. Though I love many of the bands mentioned above, I was there only for the Pogues, so I didn't see any other band (except a bit of Television and Bad Religion).

The Pogues played after Bad Religion and before Queens of the Stone Age, and it was the complete, original line-up: Shane Macgowan - vocals, Spider Stacy - Tin Whistle, James Fearnley - Accordion, Philip Chevron - Guitar, Terry Woods - Cittern, Jem Finer - Banjo, Darryl Hunt - Bass, and Andrew Ranken - Drums.

I deliberately missed all other bands to make sure to be in the first row, right in front of Shane MacGowan (there were two stages). Before the members came in, one sound guy brought a chair right next to Shane's mic, which scared me by believing he was not able to sing while standing up anymore. Fortunately, that chair's only use was to hold Shane's drinks (which was a big glass of gin, by the way). The audience was kind of mixed up. There were some old-time fans like me who were there only for the Pogues (we were all near the stage) and some others who were just waiting for QOTSA (who probably said "who the fuck are they?," "it's supposed to be a rock festival," "that guy has the worst teeth I have ever seen"). But when they started with "Streams of Whiskey," every Pogues fan out there were like in a dream. People were dancing, singing, drinking and having lots of fun. Even though they were a lot older now, every member seemed in really good shape, even Shane MacGowan. He was, of course, drunk, and it was difficult to understand him between songs, but I've seen him in a lot worse condition in the bootleg shows that I have. He was even holding the mic with his hands (something I have never seen him doing on the 8 DVDs I own). For example, on "If I Should Fall From Grace With God," he screamed from the top of his lungs while holding the mic with his two hands! On "Turkish Song of the Damned," he did all the screaming at the beginning of the song (like on the remastered version).

MacGowan also sometimes mimed the lyrics of his songs. On "The Old Main Drag," he moved his leg on "... and kicked in the balls." On "If I Should Fall From Grace With God," he showed three fingers on "It's coming three, boys." With "A Rainy Night in Soho," he pointed to the sky and then the ground during "Some of them fell into heaven, some of them fell into hell." He even played the maestro at one time and blessed the audience using some gin!

The other members were as great as 20 years ago. They all sounded really good, and they almost all sang one song (Woods, Stacy, Chevron, Ranken). They only made a small mistake on the "White City" bridge and on another one that I can't remember. James was still the most energetic with his accordeon, but Philip was in top shape on guitar even though he looked a lot older than the others.

As expected, they played songs mainly from their first three albums (Red Roses for Me, Rum Sodomy and the Lash, If I Should Fall From Grace With God) and a few from the last two albums with MacGowan (Peace & Love, Hell's Dith). They played only one song from the Shaneless area (Tuesday Morning).

There were some funny moments, like when Shane broke his glass by throwing the mic at it, or when he spilled his drink holding it with one hand (without being aware of it). He also forgot/changed/confused some lyrics here and there, but not as bad as his last days before being kicked out the band (1991). But there were some magical moments also! The highlights being the romantic "A Rainy Night in Soho" (with such beautiful lyrics) and "Fiesta," the latter being played in the country where it was made to be played. They were supposed to end with this song and play "Sally MacLennane" as the before last (I grabbed Shane MacGowan's set list after the show), but Philip Chevron confirmed on the pogues.com forum that they thought they didn't have enough time, so they skipped "Sally MacLennane" only to be told they had time for it. They also played some of my personal favorites like "Body of An American," "Boys From the County Hell," and "A Pair of Brown Eyes."

The only deception was the absence of Cait, which prevented us from having "I'm a Man You Don't Meet Everyday" and the ULTIMATE Christmas song "Fairytale Of New York." I would also have liked to have "Dark Streets of London," "Sayonara," "Rain Street" and some more, but hell, they couldn't play them all.

Here's the complete set list:

* Streams of Whiskey
* If I Should Fall From Grace With God
* Boys From the County Hell
* The Broad Majestic Shannon
* Young Ned of the Hill (sung by Terry Woods)
* Turkish Song of tThe Damned
* A Rainy Night in Soho
* Tuesday Morning (sung by Spider Stacy)
* White City
* A Pair of Brown Eyes
* Repeal of the Licensing Laws (instrumental)
* The Old Main Drag
* Thousands Are Sailing (sung by Philip Chevron)
* Body of an American
* Lullaby of London
*
* Dirty Old Town
* Bottle of Smoke
* Sickbed of Cuchulainn

Encore #1:

* Star of the County Down (sung by Andrew Ranken)
* The Irish Rover

Encore #2:

* Fiesta
* Sally MacLennane

Sorry for this so-long review (and excuse my poor English), but this was a hell of a good show (and a dream come true for me). Now, they are doing some Christmas shows again this year (England/Ireland) with Dropkick Murphys. So every lucky fucker near this area should go see at least one of these shows!

[wwfcpogue]

^^^^^^^^^^^ great revue ,honoured to read it .im a big fan loik yourself ,seen them a few times ,and going to see them at brum in december .we are a lucky lot arent we?

[Carlos Cantabria]

Yes, Satanic Surfer, I remember you at the ticket store, and I was also hearing "Danny Boy", also "Metropolis". I remember you with the T-shirt of the Pogues, and your friend with a one of Flogging Molly. I remember that you were there so early because you were afraid of the tickets being sold out LOL.

I am glad to see that you had a goog day.

Cheers to you from Pixi

Carlos.

Pogues at Azkena
Review by SatanaicSurferz

Original location

(...)

[satanicsurferz]

Hello Carlos... I remember you too!
I hope you were able to get that backstage pass

As for the review... I call this more "a piece of text to let me remember this great show" than a "review". I was about to post it here... I'm glad someone did it.

I came all the way from Canada to Spain just to see this... and was plenty satisfied. I just wish I could go to some of those UK dates!

I didn't hear "Metropolis" in the soundcheck though... Just "Danny Boy" and "If I Sould Fall".