Page "The Pogues" Paragraph 13

The band, including MacGowan, re-formed for a Christmas tour in 2001 and performed nine shows in the UK and Ireland in December 2004.

In 2002 Q magazine named The Pogues as one of the " 50 Bands To See Before You Die ".

In July 2005, the band — again including MacGowan — played at the annual Guilfest festival in Guildford before flying out to Japan where they played three dates.

Japan is the last place they all played together before MacGowan was originally sacked in 1991, and they have a strong following there.

They played a date in Spain in early September.

The reunited Pogues played dates in the UK with support from the Dropkick Murphys in late 2005, and re-released their 1987 Christmas classic " Fairytale of New York " on 19 December, which went straight in at No. 3 in the UK Singles charts on Christmas Day 2005, showing the song's enduring popularity.

On 22 December 2005 the BBC broadcast a live performance ( recorded the previous week ) on the Jonathan Ross Christmas show with Katie Melua filling in for the late Kirsty MacColl, the first time the band had played the song live on television.

The following week they performed live on the popular music show CD: UK.