A SPECIAL EXHIBITION dedicated to Shane MacGowan and The Pogues is open in Dublin’s privately run EPIC Irish emigration museum until the end of January. 

The exhibition has been created in collaboration with Irish music magazine Hot Press. 

Titled ‘They Gave the Walls a Talking’, the exhibition explores the evolution of the band, the rise of punk rock, and the role of the Irish diaspora in the British music scene, as well as the creative process behind the world famous Christmas song ‘Fairytale of New York’. 

It will also feature contributions from Victoria Mary Clarke, wife of the late Shane MacGowan, Siobhan MacGowan, his sister, Jem Finer, Nick Cave, Damien Dempsey, Cáit O’Riordan and the family of the late Frank Murray – the band’s original manager. 

Shane MacGowan was supposed to be there for the opening of the exhibition, but he sadly died on 30 November. 

The opening of the exhibit was temporarily paused as a result. 

Visitors will have to pay for general admission to the museum to see the exhibit, which costs €19.50 for adults. 

“It seems all the more appropriate now to celebrate the songs and the music of The Pogues and to reflect on how the band – and their legendary lead singer and songwriter – became so widely loved and admired,” the organisers wrote recently.

Many of those who contributed to the exhibition also spoke recently at Shane MacGowan’s funeral. Nick Cave performed a stunning rendition of the Pogues song A Rainy Night in Soho during the funeral mass in Nenagh. 

The Pogues also performed, and Shane’s wife and sister gave the eulogies. 

Music Journalist and editor of Hot Press Niall Stokes has curated the exhibition. 

Ticket details can be found here.