Fairytale in New York

Had tickets for the Thursday show, but had to give them up, for reasons too long to explain. My buddy Mike was heartbroken. I couldn't bear seeing him miss out on his favorite band, being that he is a big Irish music fan, often playing with The Mahones & The Peelers when they are in town. I picked up some tickets from an online broker and we made our way down to NYC. We checked into our hotel, and started getting into the mood. We went out to pick up the tickets and grab a pint before the show. The opening bands were not performing on Sunday, so we weren't in a hurry. What a cold day in NYC, and luckily, we did not have to wait in line to get in. The crowd was eager, and happy to see this legendary band and frontman, who have not performed in 15 years with all the original members. We met some guys that came from Florida just to see them.

And then, it began...from the opener "Streams of Whiskey" to the finale of "Fiesta" (with Spider smashing his head with a beer tray...funny), the boys were in fine form. Shane was amazing, and on cue, except for the unintelligible banter between songs, which was classic. He also had trouble with the set list, introducing a few of the wrong songs...but corrected by fellow band members. The highlight, of course was "Fairytale in New York", a duet sang with Ella (The Banjo player's daughter), complete with Shane dancing in circles with her, and finally snow falling during this magical song.

The songs were great and the view was great...being right up on the guard rails. This was the last show on their 9 show US Tour (4 of them in NYC). Got the T-Shirt and tour poster to remember the event and Mike got the set list. For a good review, see here.

What I find interesting in all of this, and also sad, is that the band needs Shane to make it whole. Shane is such a tragic character, whose liver will probably burn for weeks once he is cremated. He is larger than life, a la Tom Waits, with legendary stories about his drinking and antics. Yet, he is the main character of The Pogues, the brilliant song-writer and singer who made traditional Irish music mainstream, with a punk twist. That is not to say that the other band members are not also talented and great song writers in their own right. I guess in some sort of disfunctional fan point of view, we care about Shane, and hope he lives to play another gig.

Till then, we raise a pint to the best Irish band out there.

Cheers.