The Pogues at Nokia Theater in New York

Wednesday, March 22, 2006

The Pogues in New York

Throughout my life, I've had a few different bands that were really important to me. Unfortunately, many of them are dead or broken up or well past their prime. Sunday night I had the opportunity to see one of those bands and, frankly, I think they were as good as they had ever been.
Although I'm only 1/8 Irish, it's the eighth that gives me my name so I've always identified that way. That being the case, I have mixed feelings about the whole Irish American pride thing. Really, we're here because our ancestors hated the place and it's not hard to see why. James Joyce was right about the Irish being a priest-ridden race. They are religiously and politically oppressed and the drunken stereotype is probably more than just a stereotype. But really, that's an oversimplification and there's also a lot of romance. They have a wonderful mythology and the culture seems quite beautiful. Of course, I'm just talking out of my ass here because I've never been to Ireland. Nor have most of the Americans who color their hair green and get obliterated in the name of Saint Patrick. (and don't get me started on that guy.)
The Pogues have been a key element for me to connect to that part of my ancestry. It was the spiderweb of punk that led me to them, but it was some deeper spiritual connection that formed the core of my fascination. I guess they get lumped into the alternative world music thing sometimes, but I don't really care about that. I'm sure Los Lobos has a really interesting take on traditional spanish music, but I don't care. For me, the Pogues are more about finding a sense of personal, ancestral identity.
I was wary, though, going to this show. They usually don't play together more than a couple of dates a year and, of course, there is the unpredictable element of Shane MacGowan. I've heard live recordings of theirs before and they are painfully inconsistent. And, besides that, they're just getting old. I wasn't sure how the material would hold up as performed by a bunch of old men. Well, I guess I got lucky.
Opening up, they had an old-man DJ called DJ Scratchy. The name was odd as he didn't do any scratching; he just played a lot of reggae and ska. The first band was Seanchai and the Unity Squad. They played Irish reggae and Irish funk. Their lyrics were political and nationalist in a way that only Americans seem capable of. Their set was thankfully short. After them was a hair metal band called Towers of London. They seem to try as hard as possible to be completely pointless and generic. As a witty comment on their set, DJ Scratchy played a New York Dolls song after they finished. Then, there was a long wait while the Pogues' crew set up and Scratchy kept spinning. The crowd got hostile after a while.
When Shane MacGowan walked out he looked shaky and miserable, but when he started singing I couldn't imagine anything better. His bitter snarl was in top form and you wouldn't think to look at him that he'd be possible of the demonic howls that came out of his mouth. Surely he is aware of people's expectations for him because during one song he flailed his arms and wagged his tongue in a mocking drunken pantomime. He later balanced a cup of water on his head to show that he wasn't that far out of it. He was drinking water through most of the show, until the last couple of songs when he started on the bottle of wine.
The rest of the band was in good shape, too. They were very tight, extremely professional and seemed to be having a good time. Really, though, I wouldn't have gone if Shane wasn't going to be there. Without him, they're just an above-average traditional Irish band. Their age didn't have any negative effect on the songs. If anything, it gave them more depth and a sense of tragedy.
I got there early so I was in the first row and was very close to the action. Some of the crowd was aggressive and there were a couple of fights and a bunch of crowd surfers. It was a diverse group, though. There were old school fans, but then there were also a bunch of kids who are probably more into Flogging Molly.
All told, I am very happy. This was certainly a milestone for me. I came away with a sense that despair is not the end and a life telling tales of pain and misery does not necessarily beget ruin. No matter what, we are still capable of transcendance.


I got a whole lot of pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/oldangelmidnight/sets/72057594086725436/
And somebody got some cameraphone videos up on Youtube:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=blownspeakers

According to some forum, the set list was:

Streams Of Whiskey
If I Should Fall From Grace With God
Broad Majestic Shannon
Turkish Song of the Damned
Young Ned
Pair of Brown Eyes
Boys from County Hell
White City
Tuesday Morning
Old Main Drag
Sayonara
Repeal of the Licensing Laws
Sunny Side of the Street
Body of an American
Lullaby of London
Thousands are Sailing
Dirty Old Town
Bottle of Smoke
The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn

First Encore -
Sally MacLennane
A Rainy Night in Soho
Irish Rover

Second Encore -
Star of the County Down
Fairytale
Fiesta