U2 Cover The Pogues' Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah For Upcoming Shane MacGowan Tribute Album
Friday, 28 August 2026
Written by Jon Stickler
Photo: Anton Corbijn
U2 have shared a cover of The Pogues' track Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah.
Originally released in 1988, the track combines punk energy with Shane MacGowan's clever lyrics, while the reimagining finds the Irish rock giants putting their own spin on the song, adding a driving bassline, layered guitars and their signature stadium-sized sound. U2 guitarist The Edge said:
"Shane MacGowan was full of contradictions—and that’s where the truth of him lived. He could be precise about what mattered and gloriously careless about everything else. If that sounds like a kind of performance, maybe it was. But as Oscar Wilde put it, “a mask tells us more than a face.
"The crooked grin, the wildness, the old-Ireland inflections—they weren’t disguises so much as signals. A way of placing himself in a lineage that ran from the pub storyteller to the punk stage. Somewhere between John B. Keane and The Clash, he found a voice that felt both ancient and completely of its time.
"What he did with that voice was remarkable. He pulled together threads that shouldn’t quite fit—folk tradition, political memory, gallows humour, romance—and made them sound inevitable.
"His songs sound like they have always existed. He dissolved himself into them and, in the process, created the Shane MacGowan myth. The details of his life barely surface, but you learn exactly what he cared about. And that’s the point."
The song marks the latest preview of the star-studded Shane MacGowan tribute album, '20th Century Paddy - The Songs of Shane MacGowan', following Kingfishr's cover of The Sunnyside of the Street, Dropkick Murphys' new version of The Body Of An American, Johnny Depp and Imelda May's new take on MacGowan and Sinéad O'Connor's 1995 duet Haunted, and Bruce Springsteen's cover of A Rainy Night In Soho. Other artists and bands set to appear on the record include Tom Waits, Primal Scream, The Libertines, Hozier, Jessie Buckley, and The Pogues, among others.
The album is set to arrive on November 13 via Victoria Mary Clarke and Rubyworks, with proceeds supporting the Dublin Simon Community.
Shane MacGowan died in 2023 aged 65 following a diagnosis of encephalitis. The Pogues continue to tour, with UK and European dates planned this winter.
U2 returned last month with the Jacknife Lee-produced single Street Of Dreams, the first taste of a forthcoming, yet-to-be-announced studio album, their first in nine years, which is expected later this year.
NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
We don't run any advertising! Our editorial content is solely funded by lovely people like yourself using Stereoboard's listings when buying tickets for live events. To keep supporting us, next time you're looking for concert, festival, sport or theatre tickets, please search for "Stereoboard". It costs you nothing, you may find a better price than the usual outlets, and save yourself from waiting in an endless queue on Friday mornings as we list ALL available sellers!
