Live On St. Patrick's Day From Boston MA
Dropkick Murphys

We would like to thank all of our friends and family, everyone who helped make this recording possible, and special thanks to everyone who came to the shows. Additional thanks to Anne Marije deBoer and video crew, Kay Hanley, Harney Step Dancers, Boston Police Gaelic Column Pipes and Drums, Kris Meyer, The Cam Neely Foundation, Sean Huck, Nancy Hammerle, Todd Kerrissey and NESN, Boston Bruins, Sean Scannel, Dicky, Scooter, Tim McKenna & the Avalon staff, JI, Alli Wong, WBCN, Imus, Newbury Comics, Chris Rucker, Avoid One Thing, Ash, Kings of Nuthin', Piebald, The Ducky Boys, Frenzal Rhomb, Tom Rezabeck, Tom Walsh, Roger Fauci, Eric & Gillian Chartier, Shred, Dennis Lehane, Bill Daly, Jeff Freedman & staff and everyone at Hellcat/ Epitaph!

Produced and Mixed by Paul Kolderie
Recorded at The Avalon Ballroom by Studio Live Recording March 15, 16, & 17, 2002
Chief Recording Engineer - Phil Greene
Owner/Asst. Engineer - Bob Sloane
Mixed at Q Division in Somerville, MA
Digital Editing by Matt Beaudoin
Road Manager - Grant Thayer
Drum Tech - John Cohan
Guitar Techs - Robert Marlar & Darren Waters
Front of House Sound - Joel Toomey
Monitors - Tim Coakley
P.A. - Scorpio Sound - Kevin Marshall
Lighting - Neil Trousdale
Chicken Man - Greg Riley
Lansdowne Staff - Louis Avila, James Curran, John Jay, Ron Ragona, Peter Sevigny, Dave Burke, Scott Menace


For Boston by T.W Allen,
C Bro'n Sis Inc. (BMI)
Which Side Are You On? by Florence Reece,
C Storm King Music (BMI)
Fortunate Son by John C. Fogerty,
C Jondora Music (BMI)
Nutty (Bruin's Theme) by Kim Fowley,
C Action Industries (BMI)
Alcohol by Chris Doherty/Chuck Stilphen,
C Toonidge Publishing Co. (BMI)
Dirty Water by Edward C. Cobb,
C Embassy Music Corporation (BMI)

Management - Darren Hill for Ten Pin Management
Assisted by John Rioux & Mark Vieira
www.dropkickmurphys.com
Cover photo by Sean Huck
Graphic Design by Tom D. Kline

Look for a new studio record from Dropkick Murphys out early spring 2003



Well, we've finally done it. That's right, a live record. This is something we've wanted to do for a while: to capture the show live, to capture the audience, the atmosphere, the blood, the sweat, the tears, and the beers. Every time we do a new studio album, there's always one thing missing - YOU - the most important member of the band; our inspiration and motivation, our best backup singers and sometime lead singers. Well, this time we got you. That's right, 3 shows and 75 plus songs recorded. YOU were great on all 75; here are 25 that WE didn't screw up! Thanks, Dropkick Murphys

Here's what some participants had to say:

It's St. Patrick's Day in Boston again and the Dropkick Murphys are on Lansdowne St. for a 3-day party and people turned up in droves from all over the place - ages 7 - 60, Mohawks to mullets! There was the wild joyride on an MBTA bus full of off duty cops, drunks, punks, & hooligans after the Friday show, the Bruins game on Saturday, and of course the parade on Sunday. Throughout it all, the Murphys were right in the mix - entertaining out-of-towners, rooting on the home team, and doing what one does at a parade. Oh yea, and they played 3 shows that weekend. All sold out, well sold out. From the opening night's salvo of the Boston Police Gaelic Pipe and Drum Unit's introduction, it started right away with "For Boston" and we were in. They ripped through song after song from the band's catalogue and even took some time each night to introduce a few new numbers they'd been working on. Always the band to pull out choice covers, whether they be classic or obscure, they closed each show with the ode to their beloved city, "Dirty Water." Dicky Barrett was there on the first night to help them sing it too! We did the "Spicy McHaggis Jig" 3 times that weekend and had every punk rock girl in the audience up on stage jigging along. Kay Hanley, bless her heart, was there on the second night to sing "Darcy's Revenge" with Ken and Al much to everyone's surprise. All in all, we had a seriously fun weekend and you can bet a "pipebomb" was detonated during one of the performances. The band has never sounded as good as they did on that weekend and thankfully they documented it for everyone to hear, and hear it all you can right here. Have a good listen and be a part of a Boston tradition.

Shred Radio DJ



The Dropkick Murphys don't give concerts. Playing up onstage aloof from a passive audience is not The Murphy Way. No, the Dropkicks don't give concerts; they throw parties. And their annual St. Patty's Day bash in Boston is the biggest of them all.

In 2002 the Dropkicks gave their fans a wild, over-the-top three-day extravaganza that was almost as much a parade as a party. Led off by the Boston Police Gaelic Column Pipes and Drums accompanying Murphy piper, Spicy McHaggis, the band launched into "For Boston" provoking a rousing chorus of cheers. Boston Bruins hockey fight videos played overhead further inciting the rambunctious horde. A troupe of Irish step dancers performed their lively parade routine onstage. The crowd, waving dozens of Irish and American flags, sprinkled with fellows in kilts fresh from the holiday festivities swirling about the city, itself looked ready to march down Lansdowne Street. But no one was about to leave this party until it was over.

The Dropkicks play punk party music, music to dance, mosh, surf, and sing along to. Their unique repertoire races from punk rock to hard rock to punked-up traditional Irish tunes and labor union anthems. Their unique sound, augmented at times by bagpipes, tin whistle, accordion and mandolin, bursts with a rock and roll energy that never flags, becoming simply more emotionally heartfelt on the slow acoustic numbers. Just as an Irish wake isn't entirely mournful, think "Finnegan's Wake," a Dropkicks show isn't entirely frivolous. In addition to the basic punk themes of unity, pride, and drinking beer, their set list celebrates family, patriotism, working class heroes and the band's Boston roots, sentiments raucously shared by their fans.

It's the special relationship with their fans that makes a Dropkicks' show a party. Over two thousand people attended each of the 3 shows that weekend, yet each had the feeling of an intimate personal gathering. From punks and skins who have been with them for years, to college kids, to older folks, to young neighborhood kids, themselves often veterans of the legendary Dropkicks all-ages shows, the crowd bonds with this band like no other. Singing lustily along to every number, adding extra gusto to the drinking songs and the Irish tunes, you could tell that when the crowd sang "The Gang's All Here" they truly did feel part of the Murphy gang. Townies drank and danced with the scores of fans who had come from as far as California, Texas, Europe and Japan. Wives, children, parents and grandparents together with girl friends, pals, and fans from afar lined the stage, forming a link with the audience that encircled the band. The obvious camaraderie was heightened even further when girls took the stage to dance "Spicy's Jig" and the mob swarmed onboard for the traditional Dropkicks climax, "Skinhead on the M.B.T.A."

Dropkicks' shows don't wind down; they stop. But when they stop the crowd stays charged. This throng took to the street exhilarated and energized. They had been part of a grand spectacle, a spectacle that was, at heart, a personal punk rock party - the best St. Patrick's Day party in town.

Nancy Hammerle Teacher


If you want to have fun on St. Patrick's Day in Boston, here are a few tips: Skip the green beer; puking pastel is overrated. Watch the parade on TV; it's cold out there and Pat himself probably couldn't miracle his way to a parking space in Southie that Sunday. And please, please don't rent The Quiet Man or Ryan's Daughter; my dogs have more convincing brogues.

But if you really want to engage in the one St. Pat's ritual that you'll still be talking about in 20 years, find a way to score a ticket for The Dropkick Murphys show. What the Macy's Thanksgiving parade is to New York in November, The Dropkick's show is to Boston in March. This is not second-rate, Cobain-envy, grunge rock for the Gap set. And it's not the brag-n-slag mediocrity that's overtaken so much of hip hop. This is three-chords-and-a-bagpipe-party rock and roll. It's explosive and frenzied, fast as a Boeing turbo, and loud as all hell, but more than anything, it's joyful. These guys are having the time of their lives up there, they're goddamned "stoked", and that excitement blows out through the crowd and infects it like a fever.

You never saw The Clash at the Palladium or U2 at The Paradise or caught any of the gigs The Ramones used to do in the beach dives along Quincy Shore Drive. You wish you had, but you didn't. But there's still a chance to catch The Dropkick Murphys before only stadiums can handle their fans. At the very least, if you can't get that ticket (this year they were harder to come by than a Southie parking spot), fire up this CD and build the mosh pit in your living room. As soon as you hear it, you'll know this is the kind of show of which legends are made. And over your next pint of green beer, you can tell your friends that you were there, "that" night, "that" show. It's okay. You can lie. Just do it with a good brogue.

Dennis Lehane Author