Happens that Shane was staying at the same hotel me and my friends Darren, Dan, and Dan's girlfriend Elizabeth were staying at (I won't name it here out of respect for the band's privacy). Anyway, we get back from the show at the 9:30 club and the three of them hang out for a few drinks in the hotel bar. I go upstairs to the room to pass out, as I had been up since 6:00 a.m. Friday morning.
After an hour or so, the come back up to the room (12:30 ish?) and wake me up to tell me that Shane is downstairs in the lobby hanging out. I get my senses about me and get dressed and head downstairs to see for myself. Sure enough, there is Shane with his purple tophat on, with a gin or vodka tonic in the lobby. Amazing to realize that we're in the same hotel Shane is!!! (Thanks to the other posters who listed hotel suggestions on the board, as we used it to book our room).
Shane is talking to a couple friends/acquaintances, and I certainly don't want to be "that guy" who goes up all gushing over Shane. So I just play it cool and observe for a while, just to get a feel for the situation. After hearing from Elizabeth that Shane's friends want their privacy, I figure I might as well head back to the room and not appear like a stalker. So we all go back upstairs.
After a half hour or so, I decide to go back down to check the scene out. Shane is ALL ALONE. By this time, it is about 3:00 a.m. Elizabeth comes with me, and we decide to offer Shane a smoke. He doesn't want to go outside, so we ask the hotel clerk if we can go in the "now closed down" bar since they have ashtrays. After a little persuasion, he agrees to let us in, as long as we don't make a mess. Liz quickly cleans up the gin and tonic that Shane had just spilled as a good-will gesture, and we go into the bar.
To make a long story short, 3 hours later we get asked to leave the bar area as the morning staff has arrived to set up breakfast. What a great 3 hours of talking with Shane, about topics like men on the moon, property rights, beer purity laws, and John F. Kennedy. We walked Shane up to hi room on the 5th Floor and wished him a good night. Boy, was it ever!
(Philip, if you see this, please give our best to Shane and thanks for the great show. And by the way, Darren and Dan were so pissed that they missed this great experience. Sorry guys, we tried to wake you, but you're getting old. What can I say? From a true Pogues Fan.)