A lot has changed in that time for the band since their most recent headline tour a decade ago as frontman Shane MacGowan and bassist Darryl Hunt have both passed away - while drummer Andrew Ranken is unable to perform at gigs anymore. This year marks 40 years since the release of The Pogues second album, Rum Sodomy & the Lash, and they will mark that special occasion. The band will consist of Pogues James Fearnley, Jem Finer and Spider Stacy alongside special guests who will perform gigs in Leeds, Birmingham, London, Manchester Glasgow and Newcastle to bring new life to the album tracks. The band has a long history with Glasgow. Glaswegian Nicky Stewart being the first person to bring the band to Scotland not long after the release of their debut album Red Roses for Me in 1984 as they performed live at his pub the Mukky Duck in Shotts. Speaking about how he first came across the band in the early eighties, he said: "I happened to just see them purely by accident possibly in Vauxhall in London. I just thought at the time they were pretty good and a bit different. "After speaking to them for a short while that night, I started to read a little bit about them and along with some pals went down to Manchester to see them. Just brazenly when the gig was finished, we walked across the stage and went in the back door and went into the back dressing room and spoke to them there and then. From that minute onwards, we became very good friends - especially with James Fearnley and Spider. "At that time in Manchester, I did ask them if they would consider coming up to Shotts and explained where it was but that it was a good wee venue. We got on so well and I was very surprised that they said yes. I contacted them a few days later and they were up for it, so that was maybe about two months later they were due to come up and by that time Red Roses had come out. "Sure enough, on the Friday night they showed up in the Mukky Duck at ten o'clock at night and we sold out the Saturday and the Sunday night. We had a bus come up from Newcastle and one down from Stirling with a lot of people from Glasgow coming in for the Sunday gig. "Elvis (Costello) had come up for the gig as a fan and there was talk of him playing a short set before it but one wee story about him was that when he was coming upstairs the doormen asked for his ticket and as he didn't have one told him it was £4. Costello explained who he was and although you hear things like this a lot, he was told 'I don't give a f*** if you're Elvis Presley, four quid mate!' "After the gig, a lot of the young ones continued to party on in a park across the road and there was no hassle but 34 people got arrested even though there were no charges brought forward. When The Pogues toured America, they had t-shirts printed that said 'Free the Shotts 34'.” It wouldn’t be long before The Pogues would play their first gig in Glasgow which occurred on Friday 1 February 1985 at the Queen Margaret Union before also performing at the Barrowland Ballroom and the University of Strathclyde Union the same year. Glasgow also has a special place in Pogues history as they performed Fairytale of New York for the first time live in the city. Shane MacGowan had managed to persuade Kirsty MacColl to join him and the band on stage in 1987 for a duet in Glasgow even though the singer had not sung live for years with a piece of musical history being created in front of a few thousand in the audience that night. Spider Stacey is one of the principal forces within the group, sometimes frontman and tin whistle player. Speaking to Glasgowist in an interview in 2016, he reflected on his fond memories of Glasgow and The Pogues relationship with the city. Spider said: “The first time we went to Glasgow we played the Queen Margaret’s Union. It would have been 1985, I would say. We were pretty apprehensive. Glasgow audiences had a reputation. We knew they would let you know what they think about you. If they didn’t like you, you were going to know about that. “What we hadn’t actually really prepared for is what happens when Glasgow audiences do like you. Which is what happened, they liked us from the off and it was brilliant, a really good night. People were running around with beer trays, whacking each other on the head, it sounds violent but it really wasn’t, they were just having a laugh and there was just this atmosphere of complete mayhem from the crowd. Then, that was almost lightweight compared to what happened the first time we played at The Barrowlands. It just set the tone, absolutely nailed it. This will be The Pogues first gig at the Barrowland Ballroom since December 1993 and the venue is a particular favourite of Spider Stacey. “It’s definitely the best venue I’ve ever played. The best audience. I don’t know why The Pogues never went back to it. I feel bad about that. That was our spiritual home really. I think more so than Brixton Academy which kind of became our spiritual home the more times we played there. But the Barrowlands is a very, very special place for us.” The Pogues will perform at The Barrowland Ballroom on Tuesday 6 and Sunday 11 May.