The Pogues, with founding members James Fearnley, Jem Finer and Spider Stacy, play the O2 Academy Brixton.
The Pogues play the O2 Academy Brixton on Saturday 5 December, their first headline run in more than a decade. It's a greatest hits tour, coming after their 40th-anniversary tour of Rum Sodomy & The Lash.
The line-up brings back founding members James Fearnley, Jem Finer and Spider Stacy, who'll be joined by a collection of special guest musicians and singers. For those who know the band's history, that's a fair bit of the original sound returning to the stage.
They're Irish folk rock legends who essentially invented celtic punk. Formed in King's Cross, north London, in 1982 as Pogue Mahone — the name Anglicises the Irish póg mo thóin, meaning kiss my arse — they specialised in Irish folk played with punk energy, with tin whistle, banjo, cittern, mandolin and accordion at the heart of the sound. Original members Shane MacGowan, James Fearnley and Spider Stacy busked on London streets before opening for The Clash in 1984 and releasing Red Roses for Me that October. Rum Sodomy & the Lash followed in 1985, produced with Elvis Costello, and 1988's If I Should Fall From Grace With God gave them the Christmas hit Fairytale of New York, a duet with Kirsty MacColl later voted the greatest Christmas song ever by VH1.
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MacGowan left in 1991 and the band split in 1996, though they reformed for tours, including a 2005 run with him. This tour follows their 40th-anniversary run of Rum Sodomy & The Lash and marks their first headline tour in over ten years. The show starts at 7:00 PM at the O2 Academy Brixton.
