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Shows that feature notorious Irish poet, singer and substance abuser Shane MacGowan always have the most delicious tension surrounding them – will the evening be transcendent or a musical train wreck? Of course, that's assuming Mr. MacGowan manages to make the flight that would bring him to the venue, which didn't happen in the case of his Friday night date at Trees.
Memo to Mr. MacGowan: When your band is as good as the Popes, you should really try to make every show, lest by your absence the audience's allegiance be transferred. The Popes – led by the somewhat sinister, sunglassed Paul McGuinness – turned in a ripping two-hour set of Celtic rock that didn't seem to suffer much from the absence of their figurehead, even while they performed his songs.
Formed after Mr. MacGowan left his name-making band the Pogues (Mr. McGuinness also played with that group), the Popes stepped out on their own when they released Holloway Boulevard – named for a neighborhood of Irish bars in London – earlier this year.
Perhaps emboldened by this fact, Mr. McGuinness taunted the audience by disparaging his absent mate – alternately (and correctly) described as toothless and less than handsome – and announcing that no songs written by Mr. MacGowan would be performed.
That was of course all barroom bluster, as a Popes set devoid of Mr. MacGowan's fingerprints would run about 30 minutes. Band-penned material from Holloway was well- represented – "Hills of Connemara," "Hillbilly Soul" and "Sleepless Nights" – but the band that was formed to support Mr. MacGowan on such albums as The Snake and this year's The Crock of Gold couldn't avoid their erratic frontman's legacy.
So they kicked things off with The Snake's "Church of the Holy Spook." Fueled by manic squeezebox and banjo, the group at times veered close to the warped traditionalism and psycho-bluegrass sound pioneered by acts such as Dallas' Killbilly, but always with a Celtic edge.
Mr. MacGowan's new album was well-represented by songs such as "Paddy Rolling Stone" and "Rock 'N' Roll Paddy," while vintage Pogues material received a visit via tunes like "If I Should Fall From Grace With God" and the classic "Dirty Old Town."
The latter song was particularly interesting, as the band solicited volunteers to sing it. The first applicant was summarily booted (literally) from the stage after a lyric misstep; the second did a ragged-but-right reading that would've made MIA MacGowan proud before he also was propelled off the lip of the stage.
How many bands can earn an audience's love while at the same time planting a foot on its posterior? Friday night at Trees, the Popes made it seem all in a night's work, absent leaders notwithstanding.
Matt Weitz is a Dallas free-lance writer.