(Again, I'm sure no one reads my blogs, but whatever. If you do happen upon this, hope you enjoy - and feel free to let me know anything - I'm a glutton for attention!)
Several years ago when Rolling Stone magazine listed the 500 greatest albums of all time, they had the good sense to place Rum Sodomy and the Lash by The Pogues at number 445. About a year-and-a-half later I decided to list my own personal top ten favorite albums of all time and without hesitation, added the afore mentioned record. Looking back at my top ten I realize that the majority of the artists that comprise said list are either long dead (Robert Johnson, John Coltrane, Nick Drake) or there are bands that either cannot and/or will not reform (The Band, Zeppelin, The Beatles). So needless to say, seeing these artists perform live will be an impossible feat. Sure I have seen all of the SURVIVING members of Zeppelin perform - separately - as well as the son of the deceaced member. I have seen Levon Helm, the fantastic drummer for The Band, perform on his own and even had the good fortune to chat with him. And I saw a Minutemen performance with Mike Watt and George Hurley paying tribute to their fallen commrade, the great D. Boon.
Anyway, long story short, there are really only two entries who I can really see perform live - Tom Waits, who I had the extreme good fortune to see play last August, and The Pogues, who I finally managed to see this past Tuesday nightt. As they say the circle is now complete.
It has been a dicey situation with The Pogues over the years. Despite everyone in the band being incredibly proud to have been involved with the band, they just couldn't continue dealing with frontman Shane MacGowan's insatiable appetite for booze and drugs.
However, ole Shane has managed to be a good boy lately, so reunion performances have been popping up sporadically in England and Ireland and finally in the U.S.
So of course when I found out they were playing in Chicago it was a no-brainer. I immediately purchased a ticket to the show and a plane ticket up, and called up some old friends who now live in the area to stay with.
And might I say it was money well spent - to say the least. Even with Shane being a bit over baked, boiled, and stewed he still managed to come across as a vibrant front man while snarling out his wonderfully written lyrics. But whatever energy has been burned out of MacGowan, the rest of The Pogues made up for in spades. They were fucking brilliant! And boy how did the crowd feed off that energy.
They opened with Streams of Whiskey and then went right into If I Should Fall from Grace with God, then tore through such numbers as The Boys from the County Hell, A Pair of Brown Eyes, and The Repeal of the Licensing Laws, just to name a mere few. They even played several of my favorites Kitty, Poor Paddy, and The Star of the County Down, an obscure B-Side that was an added track on the Peace and Love re-issue.
And when the show was over, I went to the coat-check room, bundled up and walked out into the cold Chicago night which now had snow added into the mix. Being from Louisiana where snow is about as common as a Dodo egg, I always find such weather to be kind of fun, despite the extreme cold. I also realized way after the fact that the last time I walked in the snow was when I was in upstate New York with Maria the Christmas before last. I would have thought that those memories would have made me a little blue, but thank God The Pogues were there to make me green instead.
Several years ago when Rolling Stone magazine listed the 500 greatest albums of all time, they had the good sense to place Rum Sodomy and the Lash by The Pogues at number 445. About a year-and-a-half later I decided to list my own personal top ten favorite albums of all time and without hesitation, added the afore mentioned record. Looking back at my top ten I realize that the majority of the artists that comprise said list are either long dead (Robert Johnson, John Coltrane, Nick Drake) or there are bands that either cannot and/or will not reform (The Band, Zeppelin, The Beatles). So needless to say, seeing these artists perform live will be an impossible feat. Sure I have seen all of the SURVIVING members of Zeppelin perform - separately - as well as the son of the deceaced member. I have seen Levon Helm, the fantastic drummer for The Band, perform on his own and even had the good fortune to chat with him. And I saw a Minutemen performance with Mike Watt and George Hurley paying tribute to their fallen commrade, the great D. Boon.
Anyway, long story short, there are really only two entries who I can really see perform live - Tom Waits, who I had the extreme good fortune to see play last August, and The Pogues, who I finally managed to see this past Tuesday nightt. As they say the circle is now complete.
It has been a dicey situation with The Pogues over the years. Despite everyone in the band being incredibly proud to have been involved with the band, they just couldn't continue dealing with frontman Shane MacGowan's insatiable appetite for booze and drugs.
However, ole Shane has managed to be a good boy lately, so reunion performances have been popping up sporadically in England and Ireland and finally in the U.S.
So of course when I found out they were playing in Chicago it was a no-brainer. I immediately purchased a ticket to the show and a plane ticket up, and called up some old friends who now live in the area to stay with.
And might I say it was money well spent - to say the least. Even with Shane being a bit over baked, boiled, and stewed he still managed to come across as a vibrant front man while snarling out his wonderfully written lyrics. But whatever energy has been burned out of MacGowan, the rest of The Pogues made up for in spades. They were fucking brilliant! And boy how did the crowd feed off that energy.
They opened with Streams of Whiskey and then went right into If I Should Fall from Grace with God, then tore through such numbers as The Boys from the County Hell, A Pair of Brown Eyes, and The Repeal of the Licensing Laws, just to name a mere few. They even played several of my favorites Kitty, Poor Paddy, and The Star of the County Down, an obscure B-Side that was an added track on the Peace and Love re-issue.
And when the show was over, I went to the coat-check room, bundled up and walked out into the cold Chicago night which now had snow added into the mix. Being from Louisiana where snow is about as common as a Dodo egg, I always find such weather to be kind of fun, despite the extreme cold. I also realized way after the fact that the last time I walked in the snow was when I was in upstate New York with Maria the Christmas before last. I would have thought that those memories would have made me a little blue, but thank God The Pogues were there to make me green instead.
VIEW 4 of 4 COMMENTS
fatality:
I liked reading that. Good points and tastes contained therein
fatality:
Thanks for your sweet comment on Volcanic Ruins!