Leeds Academy 2008 - 9.12.2008

[Steve Rays]

Just returned from a magical night.

The set-list was as per the other shows, although it is a good one all the same.

Shane seemed to improve as the show went on, as did the sound, which seemed poor at first, although I was perched on the balcony so would be interested to see if this seemed the case elsewhere. I was on the left side upstairs, which seemed cursed by glue bum, as against the more rowdy right side..the sunny side of the seats...or something.

Kitty, Rainy Night, Fairytale etc sounded lovely and appealed to this soppy devil.

From not quite being sure of dragging my brother and father along, we all left elated.

Shane was spun around by Spider early on and needed to be dragged up by Spider but he gave it plenty, with screams, growls and interaction with the crowd. Spider made sense of it all and everyone made it a memorable show. Indeed the brass section really beefed up the sound to good effect at times.

Great. If only I could afford to get to the other dates too.

[daveb]

yet another brilliant gig

[dublinrambler]

yet another brilliant gig

and yet another poxy review(er)...come on mate, elaborate!

[RICHB]

yet another brilliant gig

and yet another poxy review(er)

What do you mean???

[Asthoreen]

The set list wasn't exactly the same,we got Paddy Works On The Railway instead of Star Of The County Down in thesecond encore

[Paul_Lynch]

fuckin amazin last night! 3rd time ive seen em. only thing is i was too steamin! i always get too fucked when i go see pogues. poor paddy was a well good surprise! Shane is god!!

[octopusuk2]

I was variously between 3 and 6 rows back from the front of the stage - never made it to the front. It was wild there and a bit of a crush but everyone was having a great time. Lots of beer was thrown about. I came home stinking of sweat and beer.

Great performance by the band enjoyed every moment of the performance. The pogues were last in Leeds in 1995, hopefully it wont be another 13 years before we see them again.

I'm tempted to see if there are any ticket available for Manchester - but I don't like the MEN - bad memories of 2 years ago.

[Steve Rays]

The set list wasn't exactly the same,we got Paddy Works On The Railway instead of Star Of The County Down in thesecond encore

Aah yes, spot on too and what a belter it was. My mistake was an easy one to make as I was ticking off the songs on a setlist I'd taken from someone else's post but in the excitement of the finale, I threw it to one side and assumed it was the same. A great choice.

Still buzzing from the gig last night and just want to tell everyone how brilliant it was and wonder why they don't all share my excitement.

In terms of the sound, early on it sounded better in the toilets! Thankfully it did pick up. I cannot blame the venue as The Last Shadow Puppets sounded superb. I enjoyed this gig much more though.

I could ramble on for a while as I enjoyed various things that everyone did from James sliding on his knees to finish to Jem having a laugh with the brass section and Spider's great banter but I'd better go now. Phil and Thousands were missed but this was still a wonderful celebration.

I hope it can go on, although I think this can only happen if we get some new material. If only. Goodnight.

[Sam Harrison]

what an amazing gig, wasn't that impressed with the Urban Voodoo Machine, from where i was stood at the time, they just seemed like incidental backing music, but then the pogues came on!

I last saw them at Manchester last year, with the holloways and billy bragg, and had thought that was going to be the best pogues gig of my life, but last night just beat it so much. The smaller venue really lent so much to the music, made it more accessible, with them being a maximum of 50metres from everyone, a lot more visible.

For most of the set, i was towrds the right hand side of the hall, roughly in front of spider, between 2 and 7 people from the front. I was one of the two lads who got spider smiling and chatty by chanting his name over and over, he seemed to love ht eloving we were giving him, so much so, that at the end, when he threw the teatray into the crowd at the end, he threw it straight towards me, at a perfect height for me to just grab it as it was going past. What a momento, Spiders Dented Tea Tray, which had spray painted onto it one of my favourite shane macgowans quotes of all time "Lend me ten pounds and i'll buy you a drink".

All that was amazing, the only downside for me personally of the gig, was the topless gentleman who kept on throwing himself straight at me, and the group of girls who were stood nearby, i think my back has been put quite badly out of joint by him!

All in all, bar the back problems, this was one of the best gigs i have been to, both for the atmosphere, and the music. Shane did slur a lot, but he still kept the tune of the vocals going, even if he wasn't quite (or not at all) getting the words!

Definitely hoping they play venues of this size next year, as well as the enormodromes

[chrisdavis]

Good work getting the tray!! I thought Shane's voice was a big improvement on last year. He had some of the old growl back