This year I was fortunate enough to be able to attend both the London and the New York Fleadh festivals. Shane and the Popes headlined both events, playing the main stage in Finsbury Park and the secondary stage on Randall’s Island. Both of these raucous, energetic performances clearly signpost that Shane MacGowan is both back and better than ever.

The London gig started slowly, owing to the fact that the majority of the audience had not heard who was replacing Bob Dylan until the announcement five minutes before. However, after the first few numbers the crowd were pogo-ing and throwing themselves over the barrier as per usual. Headlining a festival has the added advantage of giving the band a longer slot, thus allowing them to play most of their current set. "Oldies but goldies" (as Shane would say) such as ‘Streams of Whiskey’ and ‘Dirty Old Town’ are interspersed with the new material. In between songs Joey Cashmann (Shane’s manager) would run on with beer and cigarettes, whispering how much time they had left.

Shane was in a jovial mood throughout, often larking about with the band. He helped Danny Heatley bang the cymbols at the end of ‘Body of an American’, and caught a flying towel thrown by Paul McGuinness which was (jokingly) aimed at disturbing the beautiful violin introduction to ‘Broad Majestic Shannon.’ After the crowd cheered as Shane downed a pint, he quipped "I'm not bitter, and neither's my Caffreys, but the fucking Murphys is!" (This refers to the advert "Like the Murphy’s, I’m not bitter" and was bound to go down well at a Guinness festival!)

The new songs went down very well, fitting in style-wise between the Pogues’ second and third albums. Having heard some of them a few times now, I feel pretty confident in predicting that this will be Shane’s best album yet. Amongst my favourites is ‘Rock and Roll Paddy’ with the catchy chorus:

Another song which made a lasting impression was the ballad (or "smoocher" as Shane would say) ‘Lonesome Highway’. He introduced it by asking the crowd to "grab your loved one, or at least the nearest person that you love." But the catchiest tune of all is ‘Skipping Rhymes’, based on a nursery rhyme which originated in the British army. This could possible explain the chorus "Nick-nack, paddy-whack, give a dog a bone; Send the fucking bastards home!"

The New York gig also went really well, despite it being held in the ‘Village Voice’ tent with a capacity of only 4000, as opposed to the 20,000 (approximate) strong crowd in London. However, anyone who was in that audience must have been desperate to see Shane, as the crowd were absolutely wild! Whilst waiting for the band to appear, people were climbing the tent poles. I was SO glad to be backstage, watching from behind the gauze, because otherwise I would have feared for my life! (Another consequence of our view was my friend Elle assuring me that fiddler John Myers has a cute bottom!)

There were some problems at the start of the set, both with the sound system and a loose snare drum which fell off at the end of the first song! Together with a late start, this led to a very short set with at least ‘Streams of Whiskey’ and ‘Sick Bed’ missing. With only ten minutes left, Shane gave us ‘Broad Majestic Shannon’ ‘Sally Mac’ and the now almost traditional ending of ‘The Irish Rover’. At the finish someone ran onto the stage from behind the curtain, only to be wrestled off by Joey who simultaneously managed to avoid bumping into any of the band.

All in all, Shane and the Popes headlined two huge festivals (three including the Homecoming in Cork the previous week) and gave their best each time. I defy anyone who attended to resist buying the new album when it’s released!