Their performance showed me that sincerity always beats irony.<\/b>
\nWe were just back from our honeymoon. We were going to see Elvis Costello, whose new album we\u2019d been singing along to all summer. We met outside and discussed whether or not to watch the support act \u2013 who we\u2019d never heard of \u2013 or go for a drink until the main act. We decided to give them five minutes.
They\u2019d been on the stage five seconds before we were jumping up and down and cheering. The Pogues, still then referring to themselves as Pogue Mahone. My wife is Irish. I\u2019m from Liverpool. All of their songs were familiar to us, but unrecognisable. We\u2019d heard them exhibited like items of social history, played with virtuosity \u2013 but never with this thrill of rage and hilarity. One band member did the percussion for \u201cPaddy Works on the Railway\u201d by battering his own head with a tin tray. Penny whistles howled like banshees.
It was the best gig I ever went to, but it was more than that. It was a lesson in how the familiar can be made magical if you grab it with all your soul. If someone ever puts their heart into a piece of work \u2013 no matter how remote \u2013 you can still hear that heart beating if you know how to listen.
That night I shed any interest in irony, or smart-smart-aleckery. Since then, I\u2019ve always aimed to give it straight and give it all. Most of all, I\u2019m grateful it gave me a memory that crystallised all the excitement and fun of the early days of my marriage. I think that\u2019s probably the greatest thing that art can do \u2013 to help you rescue something from the river of time.<\/p>\n