The London-Irish band behind “Fairytale of New York”, led by founders Spider Stacy, Jem Finer and James Fearnley, return to Brixton for a December night.
The Pogues, the London-Irish band behind “Fairytale of New York”, play O2 Academy Brixton on Saturday 5 December 2026. Founders Spider Stacy, Jem Finer and James Fearnley lead the band.
Shane MacGowan, Stacy and Finer founded the band in King’s Cross in 1982 as Pogue Mahone, a phrase from Joyce’s Ulysses. Fearnley joined soon after. They fused Irish traditional music with the speed of punk and opened for the Clash in 1984.
Elvis Costello produced Rum Sodomy & the Lash the next year. “Fairytale of New York”, MacGowan’s duet with Kirsty MacColl, reached number two at Christmas 1987 and has been a December standard since.
MacGowan died in November 2023. The three founders brought the band back in 2024 at the Hackney Empire to mark forty years of Red Roses for Me. In 2025 they toured Britain, Ireland and North America for the fortieth anniversary of Rum Sodomy & the Lash.
They now lead a company of guest singers and players from Ireland’s current generation, with “Dirty Old Town” and “Rainy Night in Soho” in the set.
The reunited band played Brixton in 2004. The Academy opened in 1929 as the Astoria cinema.