Even a Yankee's fan can get into a good Dropkick Murphys set.
Dropkick Murphys are fresh off their St. Patricks Day run of dates including winning over New York and New Jersey as well as Boston. Check out this four and a half star New York City show review from Punknews.org.
Missed Icepick. Wouldn't have minded seeing them but my wife isn't too into Hatebreed. I'll get over it.
To extremely little fanfare, H2O took the stage just before 10 PM. It's been a while since I've seen them but I know they've been playing a bunch of shows recently. Attempted comeback maybe? I was pulling for a set chock full of oldies, but after about 3 or 4 songs, the crowd started with the "Let's go Murphys!" chant. Ouch. That's not exactly winning over the hometown crowd. But H2O wasn't done yet.
Seemingly unfazed, they trudged on. Despite a really annoying buzz coming from the bass and the drums they kept building momentum...and building it and building it.
Towards the end of the set they played ř Year Plan" and "Family Tree." It sounded a lot better and more like old-school H2O. They closed with "Guilty By Association," easily the best song of the night and the one that brought the entire crowd full circle, back on H2O's side. Freddie from Madball came out to do his part and the crowd ate it up. Now THAT'S how you win over the hometown crowd.
Now the big question... would the Dropkick Murphys have the balls to play "Tessie," their ode to the Sox in the Big Apple? Time would tell.
The Dropkicks thundered onto the stage with a blistering version of "For Boston" and then went right into "Workers' Song." Any sound problems H2O faced clearly were not affecting the Murphys.
They played a couple of songs that will probably be on the next album, including one I think they called "Mickey," about a boxer from Boston.
It was a mostly heavy set. When they started looking for a fan to sing "Barroom Hero," they said it was time for one of the ladies to sing it. They pulled a chick onto the stage who promptly started singing "Dirty Glass." Her ass got booed and she was whisked off the stage. Another girl came up to sing it and got at least some of it right.
The show came to a screeching halt when the Murphys announced they were doing a different version of "Fields Of Athenry." They said they got a letter from a soldier who was in Iraq and if he didn't make it home to the states, he wanted that song played at his wake. The soldier didn't make it home and he was honored by the band with a somber, stripped down version of the song and a huge ovation from the crowd.
Okay, here we go. The screen was lowered and it was time for the Murphys to enjoy a once in a lifetime opportunity. First off, who ever thought the Red Sox would be able to win a World Series? Sure as shit, not me. Well, I guess when you see an opening, you go for it. So as highlights from the Sox championship season illuminated the big screen, the Dropkicks played "Tessie."
There were plenty of boos, a few cheers and a lot of middle fingers, mine included. Someone even pelted one of the guitar players with a beer. That cracked me up. But I'll reason it this way...for 86 years Boston has watched the Yankees beat them up repeatedly. So we toss a charity championship at them and let them have their moment in the sun. So the Murphys can sing "Tessie" 'til they're blue in the face because it ain't gonna mean squat by the end of this season.
Moving on. They also played "Fortunate Son," "Walk Away," and "Curse Of A Fallen Soul."
At the end of the show, they pulled more chicks up onto the stage for "The Spicy McHaggis Jig." On the pipes for the entire evening was the one and only Spicy McHaggis himself. Good to see him back. From there they went right into "Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced."
After the encore they played "Boys on the Docks" and maybe one other song. They finished with "Skinhead On The MBTA" and pulled as many people as they could on stage. They even mixed in a little AC/DC ("TNT") into it. Good stuff, good show, good times. Go Yankees!
by Eddie Cash
href='http://punknews.org/reviews.php?op=albumreview&id=3851' target='_blank'>punknews.org