How were they, a reader asks? Well, I've been trying to see them live for going on fifteen years now, and it was worth the wait. They were pretty spry for a bunch of guys in their fifties, the music was good, and Shane McGowan was totally incomprehensible, which only made the show better. He did slip up at one point and deliver a perfectly lucid and understandable "How's everyone doing tonight?" back-and-forth with the screaming crowd, but it was a small flaw in an otherwise extraordinary show.
The funny part of the show was the demographics--I was one of the younger whippersnappers in the audience (Dave Weigel, who is in his mid-twenties, may well actually have been the youngest). Nonetheless a mosh pit formed around the stage, complete with fauxhawks and a few guys wearing bandannas on their heads, a look I thought had gone out sometime around 1993.
By the first encore, the front half of the floor at the 9:30 club was a writhing mass of bouncing bodies. Their perturbations were somehow eerily reminiscent of a bunch of guys with thick wool sweaters and pint glasses, swaying in unison as they belt out an old favorite in the pub. I waited with bated breath for the injuries to start, but apparently Boniva really works. Still, no one should slam dance in a polo shirt. And the absolute highlight of the evening was when Shane drunkenly knocked the microphone into the pit--and a guy in a cardigan handed it back.
Did I mention that for the actual last song, at the end of the second encore, Spider Stacy did his signature "bashing a beer tray against my head" percussion act? I mean, it really doesn't get much better than that.
I saw them — most of them, I should say — on the tour for the first post-Shane album. Even without Shane, they ate any band I can think of for breakfast. With mandolins and hurdy-gurdies.
Funny, for some reason I thought Shane was dead.
They got an
an atrocious review in Chicago.
Did you notice they guy from The Wire and the governor of Maryland there? Not that they let bloggers in the VIP section
While less rowdy, the crowd we encountered at a New Order show a couple of years ago was composed of a similar demographic. Lots of fun though.
Thanks for the review -- we're seeing them in Philly this Thursday and I was very curious to hear how the DC show was!
We saw them last year in the ice and snow with Shane singing from a wheelchair for most of it . . . it was a fabulous show!
Not sure this year will be able to top that one, but am hopeful!
I have Rum, Sodomy, and the Lash in vinyl. Fantastic album. I saw them in '87 after reading about them in Spin. They told the Spin reporter that they didn't like people who didn't drink. I liked that.
Misty Morning Albert Bridge, love that song.
The Pouges always put on a great show. I feel fortunate because I saw what might have been one of their most memorable concerts. It was St. Patricks Day 1985 in London, England. The opening act was Elvis Costello. As I remember it, The Pouges performed for less than a half hour before the mosh pit turn into a literal riot. I was near the front and joined dozens of concert goers fleeing to saftey by hoppoing on the stage and running out the back. I literally "ran into" Costello who was among the pack heading for the exit. I'm glad to hear that they are still rocking the house.