Shane Macgowan 
Before his big birthday concert this January, Pogues frontman Shane MacGowan has said he still prays, takes Communion and believes in miracles.
In an interview before his star-studded gig at the National Concert Hall (NCH), Mr MacGowan said his mother was a woman of very strong Faith, and that he believes in miracles, saying: “I’ve seen miracles and miracles have happened in my life.”
“I was brought up an Irish Catholic and I pray, I don’t go to Mass every Sunday, I do get Communion when I go to Mass but I don’t go to Confession because I don’t think I do anything bad enough to go to Confession,” he said during RTÉ’s Sunday with Miriam.
However he described Confession as an “amazingly comforting thing”.
His long-time partner Victoria Mary Clarke, who also appeared on the show, said that Shane prayed very regularly.
Early days
The Fairy Tale of New York singer’s birthday is on Christmas day, which he said is really Christ’s birthday.
“People ask me questions like: ‘did you get less presents or more presents?’” he said.
“In my early days there were hardly any presents at all obviously from my parents and immediate family, but they always got me whatever they could.”
On January 15 he will appear at the NCH with famous musicians and actors including Nick Cave, Johnny Depp, Glen Hansard, Camille O’Sullivan, Cerys Matthews, Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream, Carl Barât of The Libertines, Glen Matlock of The Sex Pistols, Clem Burke of Blondie, and Spider Stacy, Jem Finer and Terry Woods of The Pogues.
