The Pogues know they’re onto a good thing; an annual Christmas tour ahead of guaranteed playlisting of the song that has entered the nation’s consciousness as THE song of Yuletide. Any other band could use these reasons to languish in complacency, but not The Pogues. In fact, they are a sharper and tighter musical proposition live than many of their contemporaries. Shane McGowan, looking leaner than he has in recent years, clutches the mic with a leather-gloved hand, a distinct lack of alcoholic beverages in evidence, an occasional cigarette the only nod to the hard-living reputation of Ireland’s unofficial poet laureate. The band open with ‘Streams Of Whiskey’ and take the audience on a riotous tour through their rich back catalogue, along ‘The Sunny Side of the Street’ and through a ‘Dirty Old Town’ with the assistance of a brass section whose admirable efforts are lost in the acoustic quagmire of St George’s Market.

Spider Stacy assumes vocal duties for ‘Tuesday Morning’, there are a couple of instrumental tunes, ‘A Pair Of Brown Eyes’ gets a welcome rendition and ‘Body Of An American’ sounds as fresh and joyous as the day it was written. The band encore with ‘Sally MacLennane’ and there are several couples waltzing to ‘A Rainy Night in Soho’ in the space at the back of the hall. ‘Fairytale Of New York’ works splendidly with the market’s twinkling lights and ‘Fiesta’ closes the concert on a high note, the crowd energised and baying for more. No ‘Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah’ – the Christmas Number One that never was – was a wee bit disappointing, but you can’t always get what you want. A life lived without having seen the Pogues play at Yuletide is no life at all. Jeremy Shields