Review: Shane MacGowan's birthday bash a fitting tribute to a great of Irish music
Updated: Oct 24, 2018
SHANE MacGowan's star-studded 60th birthday celebration at the National Concert Hall got off to a rollicking start on Monday night when New York rocker Jesse Malin, Sex Pistol Glen Matlock, original Pogue Spider Stacy and Blondie drummer Clem Burke performed a spiky set of punk-flavoured MacGowan classics.
The early highlight – That Woman Got Me Drinking – saw Malin almost raise the roof. Pictures of a young MacGowan flashed across the back of the stage in black and white, bringing with them an evocative reminder of The Pogues at their peak.
Dublin favourite Damien Dempsey was given a rapturous welcome before a gallop through Streams of Whiskey, which helped further to set the tone of a night organised to lift the spirits of much-loved singer MacGowan, who lost his mother in a car crash just over a year ago.
When the MC, Enniskillen writer and broadcaster John Kelly, introduced The Broad Majestic Shannon as "flowing into Limerick", dedicating it to Dolores O'Riordan, it was clear some fans had..READ MORE>