U2 to feature on tribute album to Pogues’ Shane MacGowan
By Georgia Bates, Press Association
A tribute album to The Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan is set to feature a song from U2.
The record, entitled 20th Century Paddy, celebrates the legacy of the Irish singer-songwriter, who died in 2023 aged 65.
Due to be released on November 13th, the star-studded album will see some 40 artists cover some of MacGowan’s biggest tracks.
A post announcing that rock band U2, known for With Or Without You and Beautiful Day, would be joining the line-up was uploaded onto MacGowan’s official Instagram site on Thursday morning.
It said that alongside the group, Kingfishr, Bob Geldof, David Keenan, Jimmy Artache, and Tom Creagh are also “joining the celebration”.
Other celebrities set to feature in the record include Hozier and Jessie Buckley, who will cover festive hit Fairytale of New York, and The Libertines, who will cover Sayonara.
A rendition of Haunted by Johnny Depp and Imelda May and A Rainy Night in Soho by Bruce Springsteen have already been released.
Hollywood star Depp was a close friend of the singer-songwriter and even acted as best man at MacGowan’s wedding to Victoria Mary Clark in 2018.
Primal Scream, Kate Moss, and David Gray are among other celebrities to feature on the album.
U2 will be covering of The Pogues’ 1988 single Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah while Geldof will record a rendition of the 1997 track St John of Gods.
MacGowan was born to Irish parents on Christmas day in 1957 in Pembury, Kent, and soon moved to rural Tipperary.
From the 1980s, the singer led The Pogues, who became a household name after the release of Fairytale Of New York in 1987.