Concert Review: Dropkick Murphys-- Boston, MA-- March 15th, 2012

It wouldn't be St.Patrick's Day in Boston without the Dropkick Murphys. Last night was their 2nd of 6(!) shows they are playing in the area from Wednesday through Sunday. As usual, they put on a spectacular show and it was a ton of fun.

The first band was California's The Mighty Regis, who were not listed on the bill originally. Let me just say, that The Mighty Regis has to be one of the oddest bands I've ever heard. I spent a good majority of their set in a state of utter confusion at what I was witnessing. They were pretty folky for the most part with occasional elements of punk thrown in for good measure. They had prominent accordion and mandolin playing, which is even weird for this type of music. After I got over the oddness of their set, they weren't too bad. Really strange music, but they were a pretty alright opener and they got a pretty good crowd reception (outside of the singer saying he was a Yankee fan, you can imagine how well that went over in Boston right across the street of Fenway Park). One last thing about them: I have to give it up for their accordion player for giving the quote of the night about the "crackdown" on moshing by Boston police in which he said the following:  "I heard about the no moshing rule in Boston or some shit. Well tonight is the night for civil disobedience" (The Dropkick Murphys later on had pits, so much for the "crackdown" on moshing) . Kudos to that guy, I couldn't have said it any better myself.

Frank Turner was up next. I wasn't really looking forward to his set at all. He is a folk artist from England and he just really isn't my thing. To my surprise, his set  was actually somewhat enjoyable. Despite me not being too into his music, I have to admire his great stage presence. He has great banter between songs and knows to work a crowd really well. He brought up a person from the audience to play harmonica on one of his songs which was pretty cool. His music definitely isn't my style and I won't be checking out his studio stuff, but he is definitely talented and puts on an enjoyable live performance.

After about 25 minutes of set-up time, the Dropkick Murphys thundered onto the stage. This was my second time seeing them and just like they last time, they mightily impressed. From the start to finish, they delivered the goods. The crowd was going nuts, singing along, dancing, crowd surfing, moshing, (Breaking The Law, Breaking The Law) and the band just feeds of that so well. You can tell they are having the time of their lives on stage and that's a big part of what makes them such an excellent live act. The setlist was very interesting and they threw a lot of curveballs with the song choices. I didn't expect to hear songs like "The Burden", "Forever", "Never Alone", and especially "Memories Remain" live. The presence of "Memories Remain" in the set floored me. It's one of the best songs off their debut album Do or Die and I didn't even think they played it live anymore. The only letdown of the set was them playing an acoustic version of "Citizen C.I.A". It just didn't work acoustically. They definitely made a mistake playing the fastest song in their discography acoustically. Besides that one miscue, the rest of the set killed.  A lot of set staples where in there as well on top of the rarities. I finally got to hear "Tessie" live as well as other favorites like "The Dirty Glass", "Captain Kelly's Kitchen" (which has to be one of the most fun live songs ever), "I'm Shipping To Boston", and of course, "Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced" (which had the typical flood of girls on the stage to lead off the encore). They closed of the set with covers of AC/DC "Dirty Deeds Done Dirty Cheap" (which was pretty cool, even though I fucking hate AC/DC) and Gang Green's "Alcohol" (which was badass and shows how insanely good the Dropkick Murphys are at straight-up punk rock). Overall, it was another awesome and incredibly fun show from the Dropkick Murphys. I can't wait to see them again soon and I am going to try to continue the tradition of seeing them at the one of the St. Patrick's Day shows next year. If you haven't seen them and you live in the Boston area, make your best effort to see them soon or next year at a St. Patrick's day show. I honestly can't imagine how someone could not have fun at a Dropkick Murphys show. Trust me, you won't be disappointed.

Scores
The Mighty Regis 5/10
Frank Turner 6/10
Dropkick Murphys 9/10

Setlists:
The Mighty Regis included:
Paddy Don't Live In Hollywood
Get Drunk and Go Home
Celtic Storm

Frank Turner included:
Eulogy
Peggy Sang The Blues
Sons of Liberty
Dan's Song
I Still Believe

Dropkick Murphys:
The Irish Rover
Time to Go
The Gang's All Here
Going Out In Style
The Dirty Glass
The Burden
Deeds Not Words
Sunday Hardcore Matinee
Tessie
Peg O' My Heart
Never Alone
Memories Remain (Still can't believe they played this)
Bastards On Parade
Forever
Watch Your Back (Cock Sparrer Cover)
Take Em' Down (acoustic)
Citizen C.I.A (acoustic)
Boys on the Docks (acoustic)
I'm Shipping Up to Boston
Worker's Song
?
Broken Hymns
Captain Kelly's Kitchen
The State of Massachusetts


Encore:
Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced
Skinhead on the MBTA
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (AC/DC cover)
Alcohol (Gang Green Cover)