Kansas City Music Blog

To flip someone off in Ireland and the UK, you make the V-sign and hold it out palm inwards. Usually, the index and middle finger are closer together than, say, in the gesture you would make ordering two gyros at the falafel truck.

This version of the bird ("the two-fingered salute" as they call it) was designed and put into order by Parliament specifically and for no other reason than to enable Shane MacGowan to flip you off every time he takes a drag from his cigarette on stage. It's a fact. Look it up. And while you're at it, pogue mahone.

Scott Spychalski

Shane MacGowan

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The Pogues played their first-ever KC gig last night at the Midland, and everything was in order. The boys were musically tight, Shane was figuratively tight, the mood in the not-quite-full auditorium was festive -- perhaps too festive if you happened to be in the mosh pit down front -- and the best Irish band in existence (sorry, Bono) delivered the perfect set of silliness, sentimentality and rhythms to smash a beer tray over your head to.

Before a few weeks ago, I, like many, associated the Pogues as much with MacGowan's reputation as a drunken, dentally challenged bounder-bard as with classic songs like "Fairytale of New York" and "The Sunnyside of the Street."

Scott Spychalski

Spider Stacy

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Pretty much from the moment last night's concert was announced until the moment MacGowan ambled on stage, two stagehands lighting the way with flashlights, there had been no end to commentary on whether or not Shane's reputed habits would get the better of him. In fact, on the elevator in the parking garage across the street, we ran into a friend who claimed to have attended a Chicago Pogues gig in the past at which MacGowan was MIA.

To end the suspense for you, MacGowan was fine. He was a bit wobbly, but the dude was in it to win it. Yeah, he needed the aforementioned help, and he wiped out totally on one occasion as he made his way off stage during one of his several breaks. His "Thank you"s were hopelessly slurred, as was his attempt, toward the end, to say, "You've been a fucking great crowd, whoever you are."

But when it came time to sing, his raspy, grinding voice sprang into working order like a vintage distillery, giving sweet, rusty beauty to ballads ("Brown Eyes," "Dirty Old Town," "Rainy Night" and many others) and brawls ("Streams of Whiskey," "Bottle of Smoke," "Sickbed" and many others) alike.

Scott Spychalski

Fearnley

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Secondly, there are other dudes in the Pogues, and they're a delight to watch doin' their thing. There's petit, princely Philip Chevron on guitar (I interviewed him, look); knees-bent-running-about-advancing accordionist James Fearnley; shrieking, arachnoid Spider Stacy on tin whistle; stately and dapper banjoist Jem Finer; drummer Andrew Ranken (who sang lead on "Star of the County Down"), bassist Darryl Hunt and mandolin and bouzouki(?) player Terry Woods. Shouts of I love you, Spider! were frequently heard from where I was standing, right down by the barrier near the stage left side.

Speaking of where I was standing: A mosh pit raged within reaching distance of me pretty much all night. Didn't think you could mosh to a slowburner like "Pair of Brown Eyes"? Think again, said the meatheads, shirtless wonders, crazed squares and tattooed bohunks in the audience. That was one diverse mosh pit. Black guys, mohawked punks, pale white guys in horn-rimmed glasses -- everyone was Irish down in the shit. And if someone splashed a drink onto the stage, did the band mind? Is that all you've got? retorted the Pogues, silently.

Scott Spychalski

Philip Chevron

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By the end of the night, after nearly two hours of transcendence that began with the Pogues entering to the strains of the Clash's "Straight to Hell," the band closed its second encore with "Fiesta," which in Poguese, means grand finale.

When the song ended, Fearnley was on his back in front of the monitors, Shane had splashed thalf a chilled bottle of white wine down the front of his shirt, and Spider had demolished a baking pan with his head. MacGowan was last to leave the stage, at first muttering in Spanish, then croakily crooning "Goin' to Kansas City."

Someone tell these guys they're in their 50s. No, wait. Don't.

Pogues set list
Streams of Whiskey
If I Should Fall From Grace With God
The Broad Majestic Shannon
Young Ned Of The Hill
Boys From The County Hell
A Pair of Brown Eyes
Tuesday Morning
Kitty
Sunnyside of the Street
Repeal of the Licensing Laws
Body of an American
Old Main Drag
Thousands
Dirty Old Town
Irish Rover
Bottle of Smoke
Sickbed of Cuchuclainn

first encore
Star of the County Down
Rainy Night in Soho
Sally Maclennane

second encore
Paddy on the Railway
Fiesta

The rock 'n soul covers band Detroit Cobras opened the show. They are led by Rachel Nagy. I like her.

Pogues-Script: MacGowan's "Goin' to Kansas City" wasn't the only Cowtown nod. Before leading the band in "Thousands Are Sailing," Chevron sang a few bars of "Everything's Up to Date in Kansas City" from Oklahoma!