The Pogues In Paris - 30th Anniversary Concert At the Olympia

The Pogues celebrated their 30th anniversary with two sold-out shows in September 2012 at the historic Paris theater the Olympia, with the performances recorded for a live album and filmed for a DVD. It's doubtful that many early Pogues fans believed they'd witness a 30th anniversary of the group with Shane MacGowan still standing, but it's equally doubtful that there's a fan anywhere who's not excited to know MacGowan can still bring an audience to its feet with his brash, heartwarming sense of humanity, pain, and joy. The Pogues likely won't stay together long enough to make another studio album, but here they do a fine job of bringing their classics—"If I Should Fall from Grace," "A Pair of Brown Eyes," and "Fairytale of New York" (with Jem Finer's daughter Ella beautifully handling Kirsty MacColl's iconic vocal)—back to the flesh. A brass section accompanies the classic lineup of MacGowan, Spider Stacey, Finer, James Fearnley, Philip Chevron, Andrew Ranken, Terry Woods, and Darryl Hunt.