If I Should Fall From Grace With God...

...I hope I can hold my whiskey like Shane McGowan. I've always loved the Pogues and was lucky enough, through the auspices of the coolest person I know, to get tickets to see them at the 930 (and even end up in VIP). It was my second show of the week at the 930 and the second that was sold out, but I swear there were at least 500 more people at the Pogues show.

And I could say a lot about how hard it is to watch Shane go through a bottle of whiskey in the course of a two hour show and how there is definitely a voyeuristic aspect to going to see them now. And clearly a lot of people in the audience felt it was going to be their last chance to see them. And all that is true.

But it's also true that Shane can still sing, the band is full of solid musicians, and the songs are great. It's also wonderful to see big tough guys with tatoos going all misty at Fairytale of New York.

It was my first and I can only hope not my last Pogues show. If you get the chance, go. You won't regret it unless you hate fun.