| Shane Plays the Park IRISH VOICE 16 Nov 2004 AS a warmup for his Irish reunion gigs with the Pogues, the legendary Shane MacGowan will be playing at Gaelic Park (240th Street and Broadway, Bronx) on Friday, November 26. Seanchai and Lancaster County Prison will round out the bill, and the bands will be converging to form an Irish American supergroup to back Shane as he runs through his hits. “Playing on stage with Shane MacGowan is an honor and a privilege,” enthuses Seanchai leader Chris Byrne. “In terms of singers of Irish music, I think he has brought more to the table than anyone else in my lifetime, with the possible exception of Joe Heaney, the great sean nos singer. Not only is he hands down the best lyricist of the day, but he delivers the traditional ballads with the feeling and emotion that only can come from Shane MacGowan. “I often heard that Christy Moore has a hand on the pulse of the Irish nation, but MacGowan is the pulse of the Irish Nation — with a touch of arrhythmia!” Byrne says the concert lineup was supposed to have materialized in Dublin last August, but a snafu with their promoter nixed the gig. “We figured we’d do it at the next best place, Gaelic Park in Tir na Bronx,” he says. Both bands know the highways and byways of the Shane catalog; MacGowan has guested on both of their last discs and Byrne in particular is hoping that “A Pair of Brown Eyes” makes it into the set list. “It’s a classic,” he says. “A hundred years from now, some chancer in a pub is going to break out a guitar and go ‘a rovin’ and a rovin’ and a rovin’....’” ----------------------------------------- A pair of tickets can be had for a person selected at random who can answer this question: What was the name of the MacGowan autobiography co-written with his wife? Answers can be emailed to irishwriter@optonline.net with the words “Shane contest” written in the subject section so that I can tell the difference between your entry and the onslaught of junk emails I receive trying to sell me generic Viagra. Include name, address, and phone number. For the rest of you, tickets can be obtained by visiting Rocky Sullivan’s (29th Street and Lexington Avenue) or by calling 212-725-3871. |