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SHANE MACGOWAN WAS presented with a lifetime achievement award by President Micheal D Higgins at the singer-songwriter’s 60th birthday celebration in Dublin’s National Concert Hall last night.
On an emotional night, packed with tributes to Cranberries singer Dolores O’Riordan, the former Pogues singer was joined by the likes of Bono, Imelda May, Glen Hansard, Nick Cave, and Sinead O’Connor to mark the occasion.
President Higgins gave McGowan a warm hug as he presented the singer with his award.
During the concert, Bono sang a snippet of Cranberries hit ‘Linger’ at the end of a rendition of Rainy Night in Soho. John Sheahan of the Dubliners and actor Johnny Depp joined the U2 singer on stage for his performance.
Cerys Matthews, the former Catatonia frontwoman, dedicated a version of the Pogues’ Broad Majestic Shannon to O’Riordan. Her rendition was met with a standing ovation.
Amongst the others in attendance to pay tribute to McGowan last night were Sharon Shannon, Primal Scream singer Bobby Gillespie, Glen Matlock of the Sex Pistols and Carl Barat of the Libertines.
McGowan spent some of his childhood in Kent, before moving to Tipperary, but the family soon returned to the UK.
He established himself as a musician in the 1980s, drawing on his Irish heritage and his love for writers and poets such as Brendan Behan and JP Dunleavy.
He founded The Pogues in 1982, a group which blended Irish traditional music with punk, and who were responsible for classic songs like A Rainy Night in Soho and their collaboration with Kirsty McCall, Fairytale of New York.
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