The picture you will see below illustrates just one amazing moment in an evening of amazing moments as Dropkick Murphys performed at The Tabernacle in Atlanta the other night. This one came at the end, during the encore, when the band invited first the women upfront in the mosh pit up onto the stage for "Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced," and then some of the men as well. I had never seen a group do that at a major concert, and it was, I thought, a very brave and generous thing for the band to do, and a lot of fun to watch.
But wait! That's the end of the concert. First, we need to go back and talk about what went beforehand.
I had three bands on my bucket list to see before I die: Flogging Molly, Social Distortion, and Dropkick Murphys. I have seen Flogging Molly and Social D a couple of times, but until last night I had never seen Dropkick Murphys. After all, it had been five years since they had even been to Atlanta. So I was excited to mark another show off my list, but I was a little worried. Could the band, which has been around for 16 years now, actually live up to my expectations?
The answer is a resounding yes! In fact, the whole evening, from The Mahones' opening set through Frank Turner and The Sleeping Souls' excellent set, was just about perfect. I was especially impressed with Frank Turner, an English folk/punk singer and songwriter with a lot of stage presence and energy.
But it was Dropkick Murphys that the packed audience came to see, and how they delivered! From the moment they hit the stage, it was fast, loud, and non-stop, the band moving rapidly from one song to another, switching banners and lighting as they went through most of the songs on Going Out in Style and others from earlier albums, including "Shipping Up to Boston," "Do or Die," "Boys on the Docks," and "Skinhead on the MBTA."
It was a feast for eyes and ears. From our seat in the balcony, we had a perfect view of the band and the rolling, singing, dancing mob in front of the stage. Everyone was packed together, drinking, and constantly in motion, and yet I saw no aggressive pushing or shoving or fighting. As lead singer Al Barr said, it was "all about the camaraderie."
Article comments
1 - TBoneNYC
Great review. I'm going to see them on Wednesday night in NYC and was curious to see what they've been playing. Always an awesome show. Bringing the crowd onstage at the end of the show has been a signature move of theirs for years. Just one more great moment from a band that just keeps coming.