POP MUSIC REVIEW : Personnel Changes Catch Up With Pogues

“Where’s Terry?” shouted a fan at the Pogues’ concert on Tuesday at the Wadsworth Theater, noting the absence of the band’s longtime member Terry Woods. A few years ago it was “Where’s Shane?” for departed singer-songwriter Shane MacGowan. If you’re a Pogues fan, you’d best accept that personnel changes are the norm for the Irish-English folk-punk band, the musical equivalent of a body that keeps getting new organ transplants.

Unfortunately, the departure of MacGowan two albums and three tours ago was the loss of the band’s heart, and it still hasn’t been replaced--even on the last tour, ex-Clash leader Joe Strummer was unable to fill the void. What the Pogues missed most on Tuesday was the wobbly but brilliant MacGowan’s besotted sadness . . . well, at least they missed the sadness.

With founding member Spider Stacy now fully ensconced as frontman, the woozy, defiant spirit is intact, and at times it was enough to carry the band through its still inventive and expanding musical ventures. But the best songs of the show, balancing a tender yearning with a sod-off attitude, were for the most part scraps left from the MacGowan years. And when a new song like the sweet “Tuesday Morning” did stand out, it was hard to tell whether it was a sign that a new heart is beating for the group, or merely a fluke flicker of past glories.