Celtic Punk band The Pogues have announced 2012 Australian tour dates that will include headline shows in Melbourne and Sydney as well as performances at the 2012 Blues And Roots Festival in Byron Bay.
The Pogues, or Pogue Mahone (kiss my arse in Gaelic) as they were then known, apperaed in the punk scene in 1982 when founding members Shane McGowan, Peter ‘Spider’ Stacy, Jem Finer and James Fearnley united for a show in Kings Cross, London. Whilst hordes of young hopefuls at the time were cranking amplifiers and expounding the politically charged lyrical fixations of punk rock, The Pogues instead did away with thrashing about on electric guitars and mustered their power through an arsenal of traditional Irish instrumentation and folk storytelling.
In 1990 Shane MacGowan became increasingly unreliable and was kicked out of the band immediately after the recording of the band’s 1990 studio effort Hell’s Ditch.
The band continued on with punk godfather Joe Strummer filling in for McGowan for a time, until Spider Stacy took on the band’s vocal duties. Two further albums were recorded, being Waiting For Herb and Pogue Mahone, before he and the band decided to call last drinks in 1996. Just over a decade after MacGowan’s departure, The Pogues reconvened in 2001 with their frontman refreshed, yet as wild as ever, and this April will bring their own brand of fiery, literate, celtic punk rock to Australia.
The Pogues 2012 Australian tour members are: Shane MacGowan, Jem Finer, Spider Stacy, James Fearnley, Darryl Hunt, Andrew Ranken, Philip Chevron and Terry Woods.
The Pogues 2012 Australian Tour Dates
Wednesday 4 April – Festival Hall Melbourne
www.ticketmaster.com.au
Sunday 8 April – Byron Bay Bluesfest
www.bluesfest.com.au
Wednesday 11 April – Hordern Pavilion Sydney
www.ticketek.com.au
