MacGowan's songs find new voices on 20th Century Paddy

Thirty-six tracks land on 13 November, with half of all artist royalties bound for the Dublin Simon Community and LYRA's single out this week.

A 36-track tribute album, 20th Century Paddy - The Songs of Shane MacGowan, is set for release on 13 November 2026. The collection reinterprets songs from the late Pogues frontman's career, and half of all artist royalties will go to the Dublin Simon Community.

Irish electro-pop artist LYRA's cover of Streets of Sorrow / Birmingham Six is released as a single this week. Confirmed contributors include U2 on Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah Yeah, Bruce Springsteen on A Rainy Night in Soho and Kingfishr on The Sunnyside of the Street. Victoria Mary Clarke, MacGowan's widow, has described the project as exalting Shane's spirit and songwriting. The set gathers a broad range of artists around his catalogue and forms a major heritage tribute in the Irish music calendar for autumn 2026.

The craft behind the songs

Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan was born on 25 December 1957 in Kent to Irish parents and died on 30 November 2023. He became renowned as the lead singer and songwriter of the Celtic punk band the Pogues. His writing focused on Irish nationalism and history, the Irish diaspora and the wider grain of London life. Influenced by the nineteenth-century Irish poet James Clarence Mangan and by the playwright Brendan Behan, he fused punk with a more traditional sound. After an early spell in the punk band the Nipple Erectors, he founded the Pogues in 1982, drawing further on his Irish heritage with guidance from his extended family.

Notable among his creations was the Christmas hit Fairytale of New York, a collaboration with Kirsty MacColl. Other iconic songs with the Pogues include Dirty Old Town, Sally MacLennane and The Irish Rover. Their pinnacle of success came with the critically acclaimed album If I Should Fall from Grace with God in 1988. Challenges around unprofessional behaviour led to his departure mid-tour. He then formed Shane MacGowan and The Popes, recorded two studio albums and toured extensively internationally. The tribute returns to that body of writing rather than to the turbulence around it.

New readings, from Limerick outward

Kingfishr take on The Sunnyside of the Street. The Irish folk-rock trio, Edmond Keogh on lead vocals and guitar, Eoghan "McGoo" McGrath on vocals and banjo, and Eoin Fitzgibbon on vocals and guitar, formed in 2017 while studying engineering at the University of Limerick. Their name comes from the kingfisher, a native Irish bird known for its bright colour and flight. Their music mixes folk, rock and electronica with elements of spoken word and world music, and has been praised for powerful vocals, catchy melodies and thought-provoking lyrics. Comparisons have been drawn to U2, Ben Howard and Hans Zimmer.

They released their debut single Flowers Fire in 2022, the week before final exams, and have since issued Eyes Don't Lie, Heart In The Water, Anyway and a run of further tracks, leading to support slots for George Ezra and Dermot Kennedy and an opening slot for Bruce Springsteen at Hyde Park in London. Festival appearances followed at Live At Leeds, Neighbourhood Weekender, Barn On The Farm and Latitude, along with a sold-out debut at the Workman's Cellar in Dublin. Their album Halcyon arrived in 2025. Placing that Limerick line-up beside U2 and Springsteen on the same tribute underlines how far MacGowan's songs still travel.

LYRA's single this week opens the campaign. The full album follows on 13 November, with half of all artist royalties already committed to the Dublin Simon Community. How the new versions sit alongside the originals will be for listeners to judge once the 36 tracks are out; what is already clear is the scale of the gesture toward a writer whose catalogue remains central to British and Irish pop and rock.

Tour dates

NOVEMBER 2026

28 – Portsmouth, Portsmouth Guildhall
30 – Nottingham, Rock City

DECEMBER 2026

1 – Leeds, O2 Academy
3 – Birmingham, O2 Academy
4 – Manchester, O2 Apollo
5 – London, O2 Academy Brixton
7 – Newcastle Upon Tyne, O2 City Hall Newcastle
8 – Glasgow, O2 Academy
9 – Dublin, 3Arena
10 – Belfast, The Telegraph Building
12 – Co. Kerry, Gleneagle Arena
15 – London, O2 Forum Kentish Town