Dropkick Murphys Bring Celtic Punk to Pensacola

DropkickMurphys-VinylMusicHall — Photo Credit: Scott Raymer

Every year residents of Pensacola, Fl celebrate St Patrick’s Day with the annual McGuires St Patrick’s Day 5K run, St. Paddy’s Day Pub Crawl, and a multitude of other events. But with the holiday fast approaching, what could be a better way to get in the spirit than a night with the Dropkick Murphys. Well, 800+ lucky people got the opportunity to see the Celtic punk band perform live on March 5th at the Vinyl Music Hall.

The concert sold out in just a few days. Late arrivers, such as myself, were met with a line of people wrapped around the music hall waiting to enter. Inside, the main floor was filled with a mass of concert goers extending all the way from the stage to the entrance. Fans were lined three deep along the rail in the upper level looking down on the stage. The crowd was filled with men wearing Irish caps and people of all ages attired in Boston-related attire including, Celtic jerseys, Carl Yastrzemski shirts, and off course Dropkick Murphy jerseys.

Boston-based musician, Jesse Ahern and Sydney, Australia formed, Europe based punk-folk band The Rumjacks opened the night. Ahern was a one-man show with guitar and harmonica on a harness reminding one of a Bob Dylan or Woodie Guthrie. The Rumjacks got the crowd in the Irish spirit paving the way with the sounds they would be hearing latter on from Dropkick Murphys.

Once The Rumjacks left the stage, chants of “Dropkicks” and “Murphys” began almost immediately. Haze swept across the stage just before Jeff DaRosa ran to the center of the stage with banjo in hand playing the intro to “State of Massachusetts”. It immediately felt like being across the sea on the Emerald Isle.

The photo pit was lined with chests and photographers were told to stay off to the side. The purpose quickly became evident as vocalist Ken Casey traversed back and forth between the stage and tops of the chests getting into the faces of the fans, who were lining the barricade, in pure punk fashion. Casey spent almost as time singing from the crates as he did from the stage.

What makes the Dropkick Murphys stand out from other punk bands, besides their high energy performance, is the multitude of instruments used by the band. The band supplements the standard guitar, bass, and drums with banjo, mandolin, accordion, tin whistle and bagpipes allowing the band to blend folk and punk for their Celtic sound. All of these were on display throughout the night with Jeff DaRosa on banjo, acoustic guitar, and mandolin; Tim Brennan on guitar and accordion; and touring member Campbell Webster on bagpipes and tin whistle.

This was one the wildest shows that I have been to in quite a while. The audience had their hands over their heads all night waving Irish flags and clapping to the rhythm of the band. Off to the side in what was the little free space in the music hall, the lasses were dancing and twirling to the bands 26-song set. There was plenty of beer, good music and cheer to be had. It is hard to believe that Ken Casey at 53 years old can still put out so much energy; but that he did. Casey and the rest of the band had the crowd moving all night long.

The are still several dates left on the tour, but tickets are going fast so hurry and get yours while you can at: https://dropkickmurphys.com/tour.

Tour Dates:
March 9 – Indianapolis, IN
March 10 – Louisville, KY
March 11 – Milwaukee, WI
March 12 – Grand Rapids, MI
March 13 – Columbus, OH
March 14 – Wilkes-Barre, PA
March 16-19 – Boston, MA

Dropkick Murphys Setlist:

The State of Massachusetts
The Boys Are Back
Famous for Nothing
CIA
Middle Finger
Good as Gold
No Surrender (Bruce Springsteen cover)
God Willing
Cadillac, Cadillac
Barroom Hero
Smash Shit Up
Two 6’s Upside Down
The Bonny (Gerry Cinnamon cover)
The Fields of Athenry (Pete St. John cover)
Where Trouble Is At
Dirty Old Town (Ewan MacColl cover)
Skinhead on the MBTA
Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya
First Class Loser
I Know How It Feels
Worker’s Song
I’m Shipping Up to Boston
T.N.T. (AC/DC cover)