Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten, Pogues Perform ‘Streams of Whiskey’

Thanks to the enduring allure of “Fairytale of New York,” the spirit of the Pogues’ Shane MacGowan is in the air once more. But MacGowan’s impact and legacy were also heard onstage in Dublin last night.

At the city’s 13,000-seat 3Arena, surviving members of the Pogues commemorated the 40th anniversary of the band’s debut album, Red Roses for Me, by playing the album start to finish with an array of guests. At a show that found a new generation of Irish rockers and even one rapper paying tribute to MacGowan and the band, a symbolic passing of the torch occurred when Grian Chatten, frontman of Fontaines D.C., emerged to take the lead on “Streams of Whiskey.”

Not surprisingly, Chatten’s pub-tinged voice proved an ideal match for the song. In light of MacGowan’s death in November 2023, from pneumonia at 65 after decades of hard living, the lyrics — “I have cursed, bled and sworn/Jumped bail and landed up in jail/Life has often tried to stretch me/But the rope always was slack” — were fitting too.

The concert, the second saluting the album this year, featured Pogues members Spider Stacy on tin whistle, Jem Finer on banjo, and James Fearnley on accordion. The backup band integrated two drummers, Tom Coll from Fontaines D.C. and Jim Sclavunos from Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds. Sclavunos also sang lead on “And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda.”

The show also featured Irish hip-hop artist Kojague tackling “Boys From the County Hell” and a show-stopping “Fairtyale of New York” by two new-gen Irish folksingers, Radie Peat of Lankum and Charles Hendy of the Mary Wallopers. Victoria Mary Clarke, McGowan’s partner, also gave an emotional tribute to him.

The connection between the Pogues and Fontaines D.C. runs deep. Early this year, Coll organized the first tribute show for Red Roses for Me at London’s Hackney Empire theater. As Finer told Rolling Stone UK, “That’s the amazing thing, these shows happened organically and it sort of became evident that Shane was there in spirit… I don’t think we’d have ever sat down and wondered if we thought we could do some gigs. This couldn’t have happened any other way. It couldn’t have been contrived.”

In May, the band — featuring Stacy, Finer, and Fearnley — will play its first series of shows in the U.K. in more than a decade. With as-yet-unannounced singers, the reformed Pogues will celebrate the 40th  anniversary of Rum, Sodomy & the Lash by performing the album in its entirety.