The Pogues classic will be celebrated on May 3rd.
The 40th anniversary of The Pogues‘ debut album Red Roses For Me will be marked by Spider Stacy at the Hackney Empire in London next month.
The 1984 LP is set to be performed in full on the night, with Spider joined by his fellow Pogues Jem Finer and James Fearnley along with ‘a mix of contemporary names and long time collaborators’.
The concert has grown out of a proposal from Campbell Baum of Broadside Hacks and Tom Coll of Fontaines DC, of whom Spider said:
“Campbell has been remarkably successful at introducing traditional folk to a much younger non folk audience in London. A bit like the Pogues did. It’s been an absolute pleasure working with him and Tom on this.”
In our feature on The Pogues, Live4ever described Red Roses For Me as, ‘one of the great debut records, vibrating with Shane MacGowan’s teenage influence’:
“The embodiment of the once ever present capital punk rocker who tabloids claimed (incorrectly it goes without saying) was the target of gig-going cannibalism.”
“Transmetropolitan begins the story by telling one of rampaging around London, of marvelling at the ‘beauty that’s Mill Lane’, ‘Brixton’s lovely boulevards’ and ‘Hammersmith’s sightly shores’ but how the carefree abandon of youth encourages them to nevertheless ‘kick up bloody murder in the town we love so well’.”
It’s MacGowan’s most heartfelt letter to the traditional music he so adored. To Waxie’s Dargle is added a 100mph sex pistol and one of the first examples of Spider Stacy‘s tin whistle tickling; the unassuming yet quintessential instrument which would go on to underpin their sound.
There’s welcome drunken debauchery on Streams Of Whiskey – our hero ‘walking in on his feet but leaving on his back’ – while Dark Streets of London‘ and the take on Kitty are together an early display of the intangible genius of Shane MacGowan.
