Bob Dylan’s moving cover for Shane MacGowan in Dublin

A dedication to a friend who is no longer with us. Bob Dylan pays homage Shane MacGowan in “his” Dublin, at the 3Arena, singing his own version of “A Rainy Night in Soho“, a 1986 song by the Pogues.

It is the first time that Dylan has included this cover in his “Rough And Rowdy Ways” tour, but it is certainly not the first time that he has sung it: last May he had already “tested” it at the Outlaw Music Festival Tour. MacGowan’s widow, Victoria Mary Clarke, was very impressed by the tribute from the Duluth minstrel: “I am truly grateful to Bob Dylan for honoring Shane MacGowan tonight at the 3Arena in Dublin with an exquisite cover of ‘Rainy Night In Soho’ on the eve of our wedding anniversary,” he writes on X.

Clarke also shared audio recorded by a fan at a Bob Dylan concert, adding: “Beautiful, a really special anniversary present.” According to the video description, Dylan “stood up while playing the piano towards the end of the song and the whole audience was with him.”

There was an excellent relationship between Dylan and MacGowan, who passed away two years ago, as manager Joey Cashman once said: “There was a lot of respect between them and Dylan was the one who had hired the Pogues to open for him at the time.”