Review & photos by Bryan McCabe
One of my most vivid concert memories was Dropkick Murphys on a sweltering summer day at Warped Tour. As soon as they came out they told the crowd that we weren’t allowed to stop moving until they finished playing. In spite of the intense summer heat, we did as they said and the crowd didn’t rest until the band had finished their set. That was back in 2003. Now 19 years later and with joints that are a little creakier, I was just as eager to see one of my favorite punk bands.
This time around there was no summer heat, just the typical Wisconsin winter cold. Though, as soon as you stepped into The Sylvee Jesse Ahern was getting the crowd warmed up with his stripped down acoustic bluesy folk songs. After his short set the Celtic punks from down under, The Rumjacks, got the crowd ready for the rowdiness that would ensue for the rest of the night. The entire band was jumping all over the place and working the crowd into a frenzy to full on sing-alongs like “An Irish Pub Song” and “A Fistful O’ Roses”. It’s not often that the guy playing the penny whistle is one of the most energetic people on stage, but that’s exactly the kind of spirit that this band puts into their performance.
Next up was The Bombpops. They broke up the Irish action to treat us to some great upbeat SoCal punk rock. It’s hard not to be having a good time when songs like “CA In July” are playing. This is the type of poppy punk I grew up on in the 2000’s and these guys and girls do it just about as good as anyone else out there today.
It was finally time for the much loved Dropkick Murphys to rock the packed Sylvee. Unfortunately lead vocalist Al Barr had to sit out this tour to take care of a family matter, but Ken Casey was more than up to the task of covering all of the vocal duties. Now to be perfectly honest, I was a little worried that they weren’t going to play a whole lot of their older songs, but holy crap they played a really solid mixture of songs spanning their entire career. They wasted no time in breaking out classics like “Do or Die” and “Barroom Hero”. Of Course more recent songs “The Boys are Back” and “The Queen of Suffolk County” hold up to their classics quite well. There were also a surprising amount of younger kids in attendance that were enjoying the show just as much as their parents. Some of the kids even had gifts to pass up to the band to show their support for Al Barr. Ken expressed how grateful the band was to have the younger generation coming out to support them. Our beloved Dropkick Murphys turned in a spectacularly solid hour and half of sing-alongs and nearly non-stop energy. As a lifelong fan I couldn’t have asked for a better show.
