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The Pogues have paid tribute to their late frontman Shane MacGowan, saying his “spirit lives on” as they prepare to perform second album Rum, Sodomy & The Lash in full for its 40th anniversary next year. The new run of gigs comes after the group marked the 40th anniversary of their debut album Red Roses For Me with a series of UK shows earlier this year, with six performances now planned to honour their second LP next May. Banjo player Jem Finer said MacGowan was “irreplaceable”, but added that his essence had been “flowing through” guest singers at gigs.
The British-born Irish singer died last November, aged 65. Speaking about his influence on their return, Finer (69), who co-wrote festive favourite Fairytale Of New York , added: “A lot of the music he wrote, and most of it he sang, even if he didn’t write it. “He’s an irreplaceable person, but somehow his spirit lives on in these people, in working with these other singers, it’s kind of like flowing through them, so he’s very much there, very celebratory and beautifully respectful.
“It’s a spiritual thing without being contrived at all, which if it hadn’t worked like that, we wouldn’t be doing this amazing thing that blossomed into one concert and another and has led to that uncontrivable thing.” One final performance of the first record is planned for Dublin next month with the help of guests including Fontaines DC’s Grian Chatten and singer Nadine Shah, before the band prepare to take on the second album. Speaking about the gigs, singer and tin whistle player Spider Stacy said Fontaines DC drummer Tom Coll had initially suggested the trio should do something to mark the Red Roses for Me milestone.
“Well, it started when, back in May, we did a show at Hackney Empire in London, 40 years of Red Roses For Me , and it very quickly became apparent that we were going to have to do something to mark 40 years of Rum, Sodomy & The Lash , because the Hackney show was so popular and went so well, and hopefully the Dublin show is going to be the same,” Stacy said. The 65-year-old said special guests for next year’s shows were yet to be decided and explained that they “suggest themselves almost”. “It was only ever meant to be a little thing, but became something much, much bigger than it was intended to be,” he added.
“I asked Nadine Shah, I’ve always loved her voice, and when Shane died, she just did a really very cool post, just marking his death, which I liked the tone of, I really like what she wrote, I’d never met her. “So I just thought, she would be great doing The Auld Triangle. “I asked her if she’d fancy doing it, and she came straight back and said she’d love to, and then other people, it kind of all falls into place.
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