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Shane MacGowan during his Popes days and Tom MacManamon
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Popes dive into the Underworld
PREVIEW - THE POPES
The Underworld by JULIAN VICKERS
EXPECT a rare old night of it next Friday when legendary wildman Shane MacGowan’s former outfit The Popes head up a charity tribute for their banjo player Tom MacManamon, who died last year.
MacGowan formed the Popes during his ‘time away’ from the Pogues in the ’90s and they carried on with the same hell-raising mix of punk rock and traditional Irish music, playing Pogues tunes alongside new material – so expect some classics to drive the night along.
The concert honours Tommy MacManamon, who aside from his involvement with The Popes was a stalwart of the north London Irish session scene right up until his death in December.
His family ran the famous Little Favourite pub in Holloway, which held regular sessions and where the famous Paddy In The Smoke live album was recorded.
The gig will raise money for local causes, including homelessness project St Mungo’s. Among the other bands playing are Beyond the Pale and BibleCodeSundays.
On the mellower side of things – given the present company anyway – Beyond the Pale’s music blends traditional Celtic and contemporary styles and encompasses dance and folk songs from Ireland, America, Scotland and Europe.
The BibleCodeSundays, on the other hand, describe themselves as “bottle-slammin’ London Irish rock” and they picked up The Irish World newspaper award for best band on the London circuit in 2006, where they were described as “a breath of fresh air for Irish music.”
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