'Legendary' Anglo-Irish outfit, most famous for frontman Shane MacGowan having really bad teeth and a drunken drawland playing traditionaly Irish-style songs at double speed.

Formed originally as Pogue Mahone in Kings Cross in 1982, the band changed to The Pogues in 1984 after touring with The Clash, releasing their debut album Red Roses For Me shortly afterwards. The original line-up of Shane MacGowan, James Fearnley and Spider Stacy (who all busked together) were joined by Jem Finer, Cait O'Riordan, Andrew Ranken and - post album release - Phil Chevron.

It was Chevron who co-produced their second album beside none other than Elvis Costello, and Rum Sodomy & the Lash hit shelves in 1985 to great acclaim, but the band declined to immediately record a follow-up to capitalise, and then O'Riordan left the band to marry Costello. Bassists, eh?

For most bands, this would be the Beginning Of The End, but for The Pogues this was just The Slow Descent Into The Start Of The Beginning Of The Original End. O'Riordan was replaced by Darryl Hunt, and they were joined by Terry Woods of Steeleye Span. Just when they looked to be back on track, MacGowan started displaying his now-famous erratic behaviour, and to celebrate, the record label they were signed to went swiftly bankrupt in 1987.

This didn't stop them recording. In 1988, they released If I Should Fall From Grace With God, containing probably their most famous song, 'Fairytale Of New York', featuring the late Kirsty MacColl, which drove the band to their highest point yet. 1989 saw the release of Peace and Love to more chart-bothering sales, followed by 1991's Hell's Ditch.

By now though, band members were thoroughly pissed off with MacGowan's behaviour, and he was promptly left by the roadside. It might have been a good idea at the time, but The Pogues had lost their main selling-point. Vocal duties were handled by Joe Strummer for a while, before Spider Stacy took on the job full-time, but their two further albums, Waiting For Herb (1993) and Pogue Mahone (1996) weren't so well received, and The Pogues subsequently split.

The band normally reform around Christmas time, when everyone remembers 'Fairytale Of New York'. In 2005, I saw The Pogues performing it on some prime-time TV show with Katie Melua standing in for Kirsty. It made me sick on my own face.

Past events

• T In The Park Saturday, Sat 12 Jul at Kinross T In The Park. (post review)
• Sun 23 Dec at Dublin RDS Merrion Road. (post review)
• Sat 22 Dec at Belfast Kings Hall. (post review)
• Wed 19 Dec at London Brixton Academy. (post review)
• Tue 18 Dec at London Brixton Academy. (post review)
• Sun 16 Dec at Birmingham Academy. (post review)
• Sat 15 Dec at Manchester Manchester Central (Formerly G-Mex). (post review)
• Fri 14 Dec at Nottingham Arena. (post review)
• Wed 12 Dec at Newcastle upon Tyne Academy. (post review)
• Tue 11 Dec at Glasgow Carling Academy. (post review)
• Mon 18 Dec at London Brixton Academy. (post review)
• Sun 17 Dec at London Brixton Academy. (post review)

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