“It’s St Paddy’s Day, everyone’s Irish tonight!” and so begins the scene from Boondocks Saints in which our two heroes then commence to kick the holy shit out of some Russian Mafia thugs. As we draw closer and closer to my favorite holiday of the year, everyone is indeed Irish. The time to celebrate is now (I like to start this party as early as possible) and what better way to celebrate then to catch those brilliant Boston-Irish punks, the Dropkick Murphys on their 2007 St. Paddy’s Day tour.
So it was March 11, I found myself making the three-hour drive south to Bogarts in Cincinnati, Ohio to catch the sold-out Dropkick Murphys along with The Aggrolites, The Deadly Sins, and The Briggs.
My apologies to the Deadly Sins and The Briggs. Seems there was a mix-up on my part about the show start time – me thinking 8 p.m., the show actually started at…? I missed the Deadly Sins entirely and caught only the last few numbers of the Briggs. I did catch enough of the Briggs to know that I’ll be digging into them further. Let’s get on to what I did see.
First up (or should I say third?) was the five-piece, Los Angeles-based outfit, the Aggrolites. With influences ranging from Wilson Pickett to the Meters, the Aggrolites classify their sound as “dirty reggae.” The band hit the stage looking more like a group of kids participating in a jump-a-thon than a band but the antics didn’t take away from the performance, it just added.
Immediately the band grabbed my attention with their stage presence, their solid white uniforms with individual scribbling, and rollicking funk/reggae beats laid down by bassist J. Bonner. Lead singer Jesse Wagner took on the role of “bad cop” antagonizing the crowd – “I thought Cincinnati had the best Dropkick fans! Where are you?” Wagner taunted, the occasional wily grin betraying any real malice. For nearly 45 minutes the Aggrolites jumped, jammed, and taunted the crowd, at one point leading the audience in a chant of “Let's go Murphys,” encouraging the fans to create the biggest mosh pit Bogarts had ever seen.
“We got a couple more songs to do and then the Murphys will be out here,” Wagner promised after leading the chant launching into a reggae-ized cover of the Beatle’s “Don’t Let Me Down.”
When I first heard the Aggrolites would be opening the show, having never heard of them, I did some research. Immediate thought – what an odd coupling, reggae and Irish punk. Having witnessed the Aggrolites' performance, I can now say the matching was perfect, the Aggrolites’ energy and intensity went toe to toe with the Murphys and the two bands complemented each other nicely.
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