I first learned of The Pogues in my final year of college, courtesy of my roommates (I can't recall if it was Jason, Frey, or Terry -- perhaps all of them). With their (then) unique blend of Irish folk and punk, their LPs were in heavy rotation at our house on Wharton Street. Only later in life was I able to understand what they were doing as an Irish/UK equivalent of what, for example, the Violent Femmes were doing in the US.
To mark Shane's passing, I turn to their 1988 video release, "Live at The Town & Country Club London 1988", of a St. Patrick's Day concert, featuring collaborations with Joe Strummer, Steve Earle, Kirsty MacColl, Lynval Golding, and others. The video was edited down to about an hour, but the setlist for the full concert makes me hopeful that and extended release could happen in the future.
Aside from an occasional reunion, The Pogues haven't been active since 2014. But in 1988, just a year or two before my discovery of them, The Pogues were at their height.
MacColl (2000), Stummer (2002), guitarist Philip Chevron (2013), bassist Daryl Hunt (2022), and now MacGowan (2023) -- all featured in the 1988 video -- have sadly all passed. This single concert may be the greatest collection of artists you've never (or barely) heard of.
You were handsome
You were pretty
Queen of New York City
When the band finished playing
They howled out for more
Sinatra was swinging
All the drunks they were singing
We kissed on a corner
Then danced through the night
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