Some records don’t just endure, they linger in the margins, shaping everything that comes after. For The Pogues, Rum, Sodomy & the Lash remains that kind of presence. Now, four decades on, the band return to Australia and New Zealand to perform it in full, extending their long-awaited tour with a newly announced Brisbane date at Fortitude Music Hall.
Presented by Mellen Events and Face to Face Touring, the tour holds its original run while expanding outward, a reflection of the continued pull of a record that has never quite settled into the past. Released in 1985, Rum, Sodomy & the Lash reframed folk traditions through a punk lens, pairing literary storytelling with something looser, more volatile.
This iteration of The Pogues brings together original members James Fearnley, Jem Finer and Spider Stacy, joined by a rotating cast of guest vocalists and collaborators including Daragh Lynch, Iona Zajac, John Francis Flynn and Lisa O’Neill. It’s a configuration that leans into the communal nature of the band’s legacy, less about replication and more about continuation.
Live, the album unfolds as something both structured and unruly. Songs like “Dirty Old Town”, “A Pair of Brown Eyes” and “A Rainy Night in Soho” carry a familiarity that invites participation, but they also retain the rough edges that first defined them. The inclusion of B-sides and extended material suggests a deeper dive, not just a surface-level revisit.
Fourteen years since their last Australian tour, this return feels less like a reunion and more like a re-engagement. The Pogues’ music has always existed in that space between celebration and reflection, where memory and movement intersect.
The addition of Brisbane only sharpens that sense of demand. Some records never really leave. They just wait for the right moment to be played again.
Go HERE for tickets.
