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RIP Shane MacGowan

editor said:
That is sad although when I met him once we nearly ended up in a fight!

It'll make Fairytale of New York even more poignant at Christmas.
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Similar here.

Have been to loads of Pogues gigs like lots, also met him several times and was a participant in a pretty major session with him where we had some drunken argy bargy <<< there’s even a kidnap story in this particular weekend.

RIP Shane. Brilliant contribution to the musical/poetic/political wash.
 
The Pogues were the first gig I ever went to, at Leeds University. I was frightened for most of the gig as I wasn’t familiar with the mosh pit, but it was so exhilarating that it kicked off a whole career of getting down the front and getting involved. Thank you Shane!
 
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redcogs said:
you lot in the smoke rubbing shoulders with the great and greater. It fucks me off a bit if i'm honest. Didnt you all have jobs to do ? work for example? Or is life all aboot namedropping and acid and ale imbibing? 🤣 :thumbs:
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Similar aged people all drinking and taking drugs around the same times in the same town. A lot of crossover in friendship groups. I've found several friends of friends on here over the years. The 'great and greater' are/were also of similar age & drinking/performing in the same places. Camden, Brixton, Soho, Covent Garden, Clerkenwell, Hackney, Dalston - I reckon urbs of a certain age have all been fucked up in those places at around the same times.

I was working; people I was hanging around with were working or on benefits or students, squatters, trust fund kids, dealers, artists, musicians.
 
When I very first moved to London I lived next to the arsenal tavern and would regularly stop off on the way home after a night out. They'd always end the night with dirty old town and I saw the whole of the moon. Every time. Goodnight Shane. RIP
 
Story I'd never heard before about the shooting of the video to that song

Shane MacGowan: NYPD bagpiper recalls rollicking shoot of classic Pogues video

The Pogues, he says, "wanted some authenticity" to go with their song, which features the line: "The boys of the NYPD choir were singing Galway Bay." But there was one problem - the NYPD does not have any such choir, says McCarthy, whose own grandparents came to the US from County Galway in the Republic of Ireland.
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Sweet FA said:
Similar aged people all drinking and taking drugs around the same times in the same town. A lot of crossover in friendship groups. I've found several friends of friends on here over the years. The 'great and greater' are/were also of similar age & drinking/performing in the same places. Camden, Brixton, Soho, Covent Garden, Clerkenwell, Hackney, Dalston - I reckon urbs of a certain age have all been fucked up in those places at around the same times.

I was working; people I was hanging around with were working or on benefits or students, squatters, trust fund kids, dealers, artists, musicians.
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My big period for that was probably 89-95ish - part of me is glad all that is over with, part of me misses the chaos, the turning up for work hungover- several days a week, the overdraft and the credit card bill :D
 
marty21 said:
My big period for that was probably 89-95ish - part of me is glad all that is over with, part of me misses the chaos, the turning up for work hungover- several days a week, the overdraft and the credit card bill :D
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Sounds familiar! I can’t drink like that any more though, I used to think going into work on three-four hours’ sleep with a monstrous hangover was all part of the fun - these days I’d be weeping
 
I have lived in London since 1995, some of that in Zone 1, much of it very drunk until sobriety was enforced in 2008, and have never knowingly met a pop star.
 
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Well, it seems he liked a drink and even drugs and fighting. Very disappointing. You wouldn't get that with a proper poet like Pam Ayres. :(
 
It's pretty gutting that he was so unwell for a long time...he kept smiling but he must have been in serious pain.
 
It's pretty gutting that he was so unwell for a long time...but he kept smiling.

Just want to add this tribute.. it does a good job of summimg Shane up..if indeed anyone can be summed up..
www.rte.ie

'He was known before he was known' - John Kelly on Shane MacGowan

In 2018 John Kelly hosted Shane MacGowan's 60th Birthday celebrations at the National Concert Hall – an event attended by President Higgins, with performances from Sinéad O'Connor, Bono, Nick Cave and many more.
www.rte.ie www.rte.ie

And
Some RTE archival interviews..
www.rte.ie

Shane MacGowan remembered, in words and music

It's still hard to comprehend that singer, songwriter and poet Shane MacGowan has finally bid his final farewell
www.rte.ie www.rte.ie
 
I almost met him in the Boogaloo in Highgate, which I think he owned. He was there, but comatose on one of the sofas. Me and my mates got kicked out for arm wrestling! :confused: :D
I asked the barman if he was going to kick out the pissed cunt on the sofa also.
 
story said:
I just sent this to a friend :



I’ve just seen your post about Shane. I’ll be raising a glass in his honour today for sure.

I knew him a little bit back in the day. Well, everyone did I suppose. I was dating someone in his circle. We’d all go to the Dev in Camden. Shane would drink til he went silent, then drink more til he started singing. He’d sway on his stool, eyes shut, and run through his repertoire. Everyone would stop talking while he sang. There really was something chthonic and ritualistic in his voice. Even though it was broken because he was broken, the soul and the glory of it was apparent and would stun us into silence, every single time. There was never any applause or comment, just emotional response to whatever it was that he dragged up from the tumbling depths and poured out into the room.
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I used to drink in the Lock which was also one of his hangouts. Sat at a table with him a number of times but never had a conversation as he was always so wasted.

That said saw the pogues in early or mid 80s when they were not famous in the venue that used to be behind the bull and gate in Kentish Town.

150 or 200 people bouncing off the ceiling.
To this day the best gig I have ever been to.

Saw them a few times in bigger venues, they were good but did not have the same raw energy.

Who was it in the band that used to play the beer tray on their head?
 
what said:
I used to drink in the Lock which was also one of his hangouts. Sat at a table with him a number of times but never had a conversation as he was always so wasted.

That said saw the pogues in early or mid 80s when they were not famous in the venue that used to be behind the bull and gate in Kentish Town.

150 or 200 people bouncing off the ceiling.
To this day the best gig I have ever been to.

Saw them a few times in bigger venues, they were good but did not have the same raw energy.

Who was it in the band that used to play the beer tray on their head?
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spider stacy.

 
I saw him only once, early ‘90s with The Popes (after he’d ‘left’ The Pogues). He seemed totally out of it, and – surprising to me – all the audience were teenagers except for me and my companion, and all totally insanely pissed (except for me). He had a pint glass of what he said was vodka (I must have misremembered because everyone says he drank gin) and I wondered how he was going to manage to perform but he did. Somehow he magically remembered the words and sang roughly in tune (i.e. he sang roughly) and seemed to be held upright only by the blast from the air cooling fan blowing onto the stage. ‘He’s an alcoholic!’ shouted a teenage girl next to me, jigging to the music and inadvertently shaking her beer all over me. ‘He’s the patron saint of alcoholics!’

None of that lessened my admiration.
RIP
 
Silas Loom said:
I have lived in London since 1995, some of that in Zone 1, much of it very drunk until sobriety was enforced in 2008, and have never knowingly met a pop star.
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If star is an elastic thing, then Spider as mentioned , & Jon Moss (Culture Club) who I met at a dinner party 🤣 not very rock n roll (he was lovely btw)
 
scalyboy said:
Sounds familiar! I can’t drink like that any more though, I used to think going into work on three-four hours’ sleep with a monstrous hangover was all part of the fun - these days I’d be weeping
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Yep , haven't been to work hungover in about 20 years.
 
enjoying the crock of gold doc on iplayer. He really was a unique indvidual - fucked up and damaged from an early age - but so smart, passionate, intuitive and creative.
 
He was passing around the bottle of whiskey to the front of the crowd at Self Aid in '86. One of the most memorable acts on the day and a perfect antidote to the likes of grumpy Van.
 
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