In high school, I had an admittedly irrational and somewhat Chuck Klosterman-based opposition to any and all tribute bands. I loved seeing bands do cover songs, but for some reason, I thought extending that concept to a full set was the antithesis of all that is holy about rock n' roll. College brought me around to tribute acts as an idea, especially in the case of bands I'd never see or never see play that material or never see play it quite as well. These are all reasons that I unequivocally loved seeing The Fauxgues - a tribute to The Pogues, if you weren't certain - at The Bishop on Thursday.
Featuring members of The Sump Pumps and Panic Strikes a Chord, plus some dudes from Louisville, the eight-piece tribute act blasted through two drunken sets of cuts primarily culled from Rum, Sodomy & the Lash and If I Should Fall from Grace With God. In true tribute band tradition, the band didn't just play Pogues songs but rather embodied the band in their prime, adopting mannerisms and vocal inflections and drinking habits from Shane MacGowan and his crew.
It's tough to generalize whether the fast or slow songs went off better since the band was so great at both, but the closing one-two punch of "Fairytale of New York" and "Fiesta" (complete with kazoos replacing the horn section) was the inarguable highlight. The guest vocals on "Fairytale" (done by the same woman they brought up for "I'm A Man You Don't Meet Every Day") were impeccable, and the refrain of "Fiesta" got the whole crowd involved. Come all ye rambling boys of pleasure, indeed. There was a weird encore of two songs they had already played because audience members wanted them to keep playing that threw the flow of the night off a bit, but all in all, it was one of the best tribute band sets I've ever seen.
And hey, I was inspired to grab an after-midnight pint of stout, so I'd say the Fauxgues did their job.
Complete setlist:
Streams of Whiskey
White City
The Sickbed of Cuchulainn
Turkish Song of the Damned
Dirty Old Town
The Body of an American
The Broad Majestic Shannon
Sally MacLennane
Thousands Are Sailing
South Australia
The Irish Rover
Medley: The Recruiting Sergeant/The Rocky Road To Dublin/The Galway Races
-break-
The Sunnyside of the Street
Bottle of Smoke
The Old Main Drag
If I Should Fall From Grace With God
The Boys From the County Hell
I'm a Man You Don't Meet Every Day
Transmetropolitan
Waxies' Dargle
Boat Train
A Pair of Brown Eyes
Fairytale of New York
Fiesta
-encore-
White City (Reprise)
Bottle of Smoke (Reprise)
Post and photography by Brad Sanders
