July 13, 2008 22:45

The Pogues make an emotional homecoming at Oxegen

Irish legends play first festival on home soil in 17 years

The Pogues received a huge homecoming reception at Oxegen 2008 tonight (July 13) as they played their first Irish festival in nearly 20 years.

Shane MacGowan and co packed the festival's Green Room tent to capacity as they ran through an ecstatically received greatest hits set in front of a emotional audience.

Prior to Oxegen, the band's last festival appearance in Ireland was at the 1991 Feile in Thurles, Co Tipperary.

Arriving on-stage to chants of "let’s go fucking mental", the band ripped into 'Streams of Whiskey' following a short instrumental.

As reams of toilet roll were hurled on-stage during such Irish classics as 'If I Should Fall From Grace With God' and 'The Body Of an American', MacGowan asked the crowd: "Are there people getting married here or shitting on the stage or something."

The band's 13 song set also included 'Tuesday Morning' which written after the band's hard-drinking frontman had been originally kicked-out of the band in 1991, and saw tin-whistle player Spider Stacey take over on lead vocals.

Being the height of summer, the band omitted Christmas classic 'Fairytale Of New York' but did play a host of crowd favourites a spine-tingling version of 'Dirty Old Town' getting the biggest sing-a-long of the set.

The Pogues played:

'Streams Of Whiskey'
'If I Should Fall From Grace With God'
'The Broad Majestic Shannon'
'A Pair Of Brown Eyes'
'Tuesday Morning'
'A Rainy Night In Soho'
'The Body Of An American'
'The Sunny Side Of The Street'
'Dirty Old Town'
'Bottle Of Smoke'
'The Sick Bed Of Cuchulainn'
'Sally MacLennane'
'Fiesta'

Keep up with all the action from T In The Park and Oxegen Festival this weekend (July 11-13) as it happens on NME.COM.

For news, pictures and blogs keep checking the NME.COM's T In The Park and Oxegen pages.

Plus make sure you get next week's issue of NME – on UK newsstands from July 16 – for the ultimate T In The Park and Oxegen Festival review.