U2 Performs An Emotional 'A Rainy Day in Soho' Tribute for Shane MacGowan [Watch]

Shane MacGowan, another Irish musician, is being remembered by U2.

During their Las Vegas residency on Friday, December 1, at the Venetian's Sphere venue, the seasoned members of the U.K. Rock and Roll Hall of Fame honored the late Pogues frontman with a poignant performance of the Celtic band's "A Rainy Day in Soho."

During the mournful acoustic cover performed by U2, Bono encouraged the audience to sing along with them in honor of Shane McGowan.

In the middle of the song, Bono changed the words to honor MacGowan, who died on Thursday, Nov. 30, after being hospitalized recently. He was sixty-five.

He sang, "McGowan's song is never over, but we may never find out what it means," he sang. "You're the measure of my dreams."

This is not Bono's first performance of "A Rainy Day in Soho." In 2018, during MacGowan's 60th birthday celebration in Dublin, the 63-year-old vocalist collaborated with actor Johnny Depp on a performance of the 1986 Poguetry in Motion track. Renowned musicians including the late Sinéad O'Connor and Nick Cave also attended the celebration.

The Pogues announced earlier this week the death of their renowned hard-living singer, whose gritty, rising-from-concrete lyrics and yearning, howling vocals supercharged the band's blend of punk rock spirit and traditional Irish music on hits like "A Pair of Brown Eyes" and "The Old Main Drag."

U2 was one of several musicians who paid tribute to MacGowan following his demise. "Shane MacGowan's songs were perfect so he or we his fans didn't have to be....," Bono captioned an illustration on X of MacGowan and lyrics to to "A Rainy Day in Soho."

In light of the tragic news of Shane MacGowan's passing yesterday, Fairytale of New York, featuring Kirsty MacColl, has returned to the Top 40 at Number 18. It is expected to climb considerably higher the following week, maybe reaching its first-ever position at Number 1 in the UK.

Martin Talbot, Chief Executive Officer, Official Charts, says:

"The terribly sad news about Shane MacGowan's death will hit hard all lovers of his music, as well as the fans of Fairytale Of New York, which is consistently one of the UK public's favourite Christmas songs - and which has become a festive staple since the advent of the digital era made it available to download and stream.

"As usual, it was already heading back into the Official Singles Chart Top 40 this week and, while it is currently too early to give an indication of the scale of the streaming surge, we would very much expect it to rise back into the Top 20 over the coming days, perhaps even higher. It is a genuine contender for this year's Christmas Number 1 - a chart position which this classic has never previo