Category Archives: Live

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The Rag & Bonemen, The Wages Of Sin, Rum Rebellion – Portland, Or (May 18, 2007)

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I did something I rarely do nowadays… I went out on a Friday night. You see, work wise, Fridays kicks my ass so bad, I usually go straight home like an old man, but not this time. There was no way I was going to miss this gig, so with that being said, on with the review… Considering the nautical element of the bands involved, the neighborhood for tonight’s gig was fitting. The Mt. Tabor Legacy, is located smack dab in the middle of Portland’s Bermuda triangle. (There’s so many bars in this area, the odds of ever leaving are not in your favor!) Rag & Bonemen start the show off with those haunted folk-punk tunes they do so well at. Rag & Bonemen played some new songs, and some classic ones from their recent EP. (BTW, When’s that full album due?) It’s a shame their set was so short, because I was just warming up, the damn house lights came on, which of course was followed by a mad dash to the bar, and next thing you know, The Wages Of Sin are setting up, and like Rag & Bonemen before them, I was seriously impressed. Their stage presence was full of energy, their delivery was amazing, and quite honestly, The Wages Of Sin flat out kick ass. I can’t wait for their new album. If you’re in the Pacific Northwest, try and catch them live. Up next, was Rum Rebellion, I think I have seen them over a dozen times, and I can honestly tell you, they keep getting better, and better! They already have a number of new songs, and are probably spending every waking moment writing new material. By the end of the night we were a drunken mess, and things got a wee bit hazy. I must admit, I feel quite lucky to be living in an area full of great folk punk bands.

This is a good thing to be surrounded by.

Review by Barnacle Brian

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BibleCodeSundays, The PubCrawlers, TheGobshites – Bulfinch Yacht Club, Boston (April 6, 2007)

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Don’t be fooled by the name – The Bulfinch Yacht Club is a pretty cool rock club. A good size room, decent stage (though built for regular 4 piece bands not 8 piece celtic punk bands so all the bands were a little cramped playing) and nice sound system. The people who run the place were pretty cool as well. Some of you might remember the place when it was The Irish Embassy back in the 90’s were Black 47 would play on a regular basis

First up on stage were old friends The PubCrawlers, who despite being one member short (the mandolin player – though I almost think there wouldn’t have been room on stage anyway) played a real solid set. The band has had a few line up changes since last time I saw them including adding new vocalist Ron. Ron has added a much stronger Street Punk/Oi feel to the band which I think is the right direction for them.

BibleCodeSundays were next and by the time they came on the club was pretty full – not bad for Good Friday – the band lined up straight across the stage with drummer Carlton kicking up a huge storm from behind and with big smiles on their faces, great songs (both from the debut CD and from the forth coming release) and musically a tight as the proverbial ducks ass BCS kicked the shit outta the audience. The crowd swelled forward and they made a hell of a lot of new friends in Boston

Much thanks to Pete from the Gobshites for being part of the night. Peter played a solo show across town earlier so it was really cool of him and The Gobshites to play. The Gobshites were their usual fun selves and treated every one to a great time – I’d have a fuller review but by the time The Gobshites came on I was totally shit faced but that’s the point of going to a Gobshits gig anyway, isn’t it?.

Review by Mustard Finnegan

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The Mickey Finns – Half Door, Hartford, CT (February 2007)

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The Sort of Mickey Finns

It was certainly friggin cold out this night we ventured out down to the Half Door for this first time checking out this band “The Mickey Finns”. I guess it was to be expected, it was February, but the month before during an Enter the Haggis show it was so warm out we ate outside! So when I had to park on the street so far away we couldn’t see the door, my passengers moaned and groaned, I told ‘em all to shaddup and quit whining!

The Mickey Finns are the latest in the New York Irish rock, compiled of the same twenty or so roaming musicians that rotate in and out of different bands. The best way to describe the scene there is if you know someone you are welcomed wholeheartedly into this wildly energetic and extremely talented group of bands and solo musicians. However if you do not know someone to introduce you to this musical madness, you’ll pass right over this group without ever knowing it, literally if you take the 7 train into Sunnyside/Woodside area of Queens. Some of these bands have made it out and become quite popular like Black 47 and The Prodigals. Others you should know, but probably haven’t even had a clue about are bands like Trigger, The Temp and the band of focus in this article, The Mickey Finns.

With a style uniquely New York Irish, The Mickey Finns don’t even try to punk rock a trad song, or Pogues out and original song. The sound is stripped down; the drummer plays two congas a high hat and a kick drum. The singer plays the acoustic guitar and there is the fiddle player. Oh the fiddle player, there is always one star to a group and in this case it is the other worldly playing of Matt Mancuso. Matt and I used to drink together years ago when I lived in Queens. I would go and watch him and his band Raglan Road play every Sunday night at Taylor’s Hall, then we’d all trek down to The Wall (now McGuire’s) which was a few blocks away on Roosevelt in Woodside, under the 7 train. It was a two or three day a week scavenger hunt to find what group of musicians were playing under what name and at what bar. I’ll tell you though that when any of these bands got rocking and the crowd was right you could easily spend all night there, not emerging from the pub door till the sun came up.

Back to the boys in the band, however cold it was and whoever replaced Matt the whole style of the band was definitely built for the Irish pub of tomorrow. The musicians do honors to the music and make it there own by not changing it to some gimmick, but by playing the hell out of what was handed down to them for generations. And improvised jigs and reels got all the drunken forty something’s up and dancing, however I missed Matt’s hornpipes he did with Raglan Road. All and all these guys despite their CD not being ready yet, were able to rock out as if this were the way the band always sounded, and I made the suggestion that the stand in for Matt, a great banjo player should become a permanent member, come on how about it?

Review by The Rover

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Paddy’s Day Report – K.M.R.I.A. – Portland, Oregon (March 17, 2007)

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Beware The Ides Of March…Beware The Ides Of March… Crazy shit happens in the middle of March, and this years festivities were no different. Started out the holiday with a Smithwick’s or two down at a local Irish Pub. I thought they’d have some trad music in the morning. I was wrong. Instead it was much better… As I walk into the pub, I see Casey Neill and Zak Borden outside. Turns out they’re about to play a set. Heard a few tunes from Casey’s upcoming album “Brooklyn Bridge”, and let me tell you folks, there’s some good stuff right there! After about an hour or so, it’s off to a pre-party or two.

Eventually it’s time for the gig and we head down to the Wonder Ballroom for K.M.R.I.A. (Kiss My Royal Irish Ass) KMRIA play Pogues music. Nothing but. They are a celebration of the virtuosity, songcraft, and spirit of the Pogues. The band features an all star cast of Pacific Northwest rock – Chris Funk and Jenny Conlee of The DECEMBERISTS, Ezra Holbrook of DR THEOPOLIS, Scott McCaughey of THE MINUS 5, YOUNG FRESH FELLOWS & REM sideman, Hanz Araki of THE WHYOS & PAPERBOYS, Jesse Emerson of AMELIA, singer CASEY NEILL, and DEREK BROWN of The EELS, and FERNANDO. The show features as much grit, bluster, and drunken glory as can be mustered without sacrificing the intricacies of the material. The name KMRIA is an acronym for “Kiss my Royal Irish Ass” excerpted from James Joyce’s Ulysses and used in the Pogues song “Transmetropolitan”. K.M.R.I.A. only play shows around X-MAS and ST PATS. Let me tell you, I have heard a million Pogues covers, and these guys (& Boys From The County Hell) are as close to the real thing as you can get… I swear the only difference is that K.M.R.I.A. have more teeth! During the opening band someone tells me Shane MacGowan fucked up his knee a couple of nights before, and The Pogues had to cancel their Paddy’s Day shows, which somehow translates in my drunken head as the best live Pogues music in the world is currently playing in Portland, Oregon!

Everyone in the building were singing (slurring) word for word, most were dancing,(stumbling) and a few were simply making out.(groping) As the night wore on, they played all the Pogues classics, and that’s about all I can tell you! Show me a person who didn’t have a good time that night and I will show you someone who either didn’t have a clue, or didn’t have a pulse. I will also say this.. If anyone needs to record a live album, it’s KMRIA! It was a great night that ended with Chris Funk (Also in The Decemberists) throwing his mandolin into the crowd, and hitting me square on the head… I ended up keeping the Mandolin only to have Max (f/ Rag & Bonemen, & The Dolomites) headbutting the back so hard the base fell off! Classic!

Review by Barnacle Brian

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ENTER THE HAGGIS – The Half DooR, Hartford, CT (January 2007)

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The Half Door in Hartford has had some of the coolest bands on the east coast come to it, some well known some now long gone but not forgotten. This night in January hosted a band now just about to make it huge, a band years in the making snuggled up in the great white north of Toronto, now here in the insurance Capital of the country was Enter the Haggis. An unusually warm January night I must admit, but it worked to my parties advantage as we were pushed outside by the huge crowd that began to fill in the bar.

Luck was on our side though because they waitress said she would serve us out there and that is where we ended up holding court for most of the night, and where I got a chance to have a sit down with Brian the somewhat ringleader of the band. This is an act that looked like a couple of years ago Brian was going to end up being the front man of this rising group, he did most of the singing, he was the flashiest being the dyed spiky hair fiddle player that jumped all over the stage, and boy did the girls love him. When I asked Craig if there were any deep dark secrets about the band he told me that Brian wears a thong, which when I asked Brian’s girlfriend, who you will meet at the merchandise table at almost every show they do, she said that was completely untrue, which leads me to believe I found out why he’s most famous with the little ladies, he wears no underwear!

Sorry I got completely sidetracked off my point talking about underwear, where was I? Oh yes the changing of the guard in front man status. This was due to an unfortunate at the time vocal strain on Brian’s part. It forced the other guys to step, write some songs and sing a lot more tunes. This actually in my opinion was the best thing to happen to the band before getting signed to UFO records. The pain and suffering of their lead vocalist forced them to a more diverse and cohesive act. Spreading the front around to Trevor, and sometimes Craig, leaving Brian to rest and get his health back was where a lot of the new and more mainstream band. This coincided with there conscious decision to stop wearing the kilts. Of course Craig still does on occasion, and I’m really glad James doesn’t sitting as he has to behind the drums, but as Brian put it, they felt it was becoming their gimmick, something they desperately wanted to get away from, and who can blame them, I wouldn’t want people to come see the funny band that wears kilts if it were me.

I’ve known these guys since the fall of 2003, where I first approached them in the Half Door during a show there, which at that time had all of 30 people there. Now just a few years later the same bar was stuffed elbow to elbow with young and old trying to get a god ear to the music. The numbers are clear their new effort put out by their new Indie label is getting them lots of new fans. With a ranking in Billboard world as #8 and iTunes World as#2 with Soap Box Heroes they are making their mark in this genre. I guess they are like the pot of Irish rock because they are a great gateway drug to the rest of the genre. There are great no holds barred Irish rock groups like Flogging Molly, The Tossers and Dropkick Murphy’s, but for someone that has never been introduced to the genre before, the previous will be more than most can take. But give a newbie a Enter the Haggis CD and they’ll get into it for sure, give ‘em a month of the stuff and they’ll be listening to Shite N’ Onions radio and buying everything they hear.

Apparently when I started the interview and writing I had a great big plan in my head, I went around interviewed Brian, got words from the rest of the boys and even interviewed Brian’s girlfriend about music and the band at length, but I have so far done nothing but paraphrase and used very little of what information I have gathered. However I believe these guys will agree that they are a band to experience, not dissect and over analyze. These guys put on one of hell of a live show, whether it be on a giant outdoor stage or on a 4×8 piece of plywood as it was this night. With equipment taking up most the stage, gear blocking the hallway to the men’s room, and way more people than there ever should be in the room we were in they didn’t make it seem so bad. The feeling they gave us as an audience right away was that it was alright, we were going to rock despite the up hill battle we’re facing.

So what’s new with the boys, new live CD gets recorded this march in Northampton, MA. So this will be your chance to get on a Enter the Haggis CD, you just gotta get your tickets, they sell out quite fast when they come to the Ironhorse, and I’ll see you there! .

Review by The Rover

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THE TOWN PANTS, THE MCGILLICUDDYS -Shite’n’Onions CD release party -The Limerick Junction, Vancouver BC (September 30, 2006)

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Vancouver isn’t that far away from Boston I guess.
The whole night could have been schizophrenic, maybe the club wanted to cover their bases–the poster was billing the show not only as a Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day event but also the west coast CD release for the Shite’n’Onions “What the Shite” Vol. 2 CD compilation of Celtic rock bands of which British Columbia gets two entries with Vancouver’s The Town Pants and Victoria’s The McGillicuddy’s.

And on the same weekend that the Dropkick Murphys, Bad Religion, Rancid and Billy Bragg were all in town doing concerts all over the city, it didn’t lessen the turnout for an audience of at least 300 people that packed into the relatively small confines of the recently opened Limerick Junction, which was previously the Gastown punk-rock bastion The Brickyard. The night started up with The MCGILLICUDDY’S. Despite that the band doesn’t come over to Vancouver from the Island that often, they certainly had a few vocal fans out to see them including a pretty loud mowhawked guy in an Exploited t-shirt. McGillicuddy’s singer Mike Walker has learned a trick or nine from Mike Ness’ vocal style and the band (with requisite cute girl bassist) raced through a pretty solid set with songs from their “Kilt By Death” CD which includes “On the Rocks” featured on the Shite’n’Onions comp. They played a couple of covers including “If I Should Fall From Grace with God” and “The Leaving of Liverpool” and halfway through the set drummer Brent Restal drum pedal broke which forced Walker to tell a long joke to buy time to fix the drums, and they lost a bit of momentum but got it back quickly enough. Later on, Walker bashed Arsenal football club and made some soccer references I didn’t get. Maybe the British folks in the audience got it? The McGillicuddys tried to stir up some good natured trouble with some banter of Vancouver/Victoria rivalry, but I think the McGillicuddy’s made some new fans here in Vancouver and any band that has their amps speaker fabric replaced with tartan deserves points.

After a pretty quick changeover it was The Town Pants turn. This being their first local show in months after a long tour back east, the hometown crowd was certainly there to see them and the dance floor was filled and pretty lively from the beginning.
While the McGillicuddys play Celt music with a more punk style, The Town Pants play Celtic rock with a roots edge. More a rock band employing a folk style than the other way round, they have their own distinctive sound, a sort of folk n’ roll.
Their first show back in some time, they played like there was no tomorrow and though the sound system’s heavy bass emphasis of the sound was at times unkind to the banjo and tin whistle, but the band was obviously more interested in getting the audience moving than displaying so much instrumental subtlety. The group started with “The Weight of Words” which is the track included on the Shite’n’Onions compilation, a song that with Ryan Robbins sitting in on dijeridoo gives it an Australian spaghetti western type rhythm to it.

The Town Pants stormed through favorites like “Monahan the Mutineer” and even a cover of Steve Earle’s “Galway Girl”, joined by a new bass player and a drummer who played like hell but looked oddly out of place with a ball cap on. The heavy bass PA sound was unkind to the banjo and tin whistle but it didn’t deter the Keogh Brothers from singing and strumming like possessed Everly Brothers on speed, and Aaron Chapman delivering some pretty funny stage banter between songs and his tinny-tootlings on the whistle. The group brought out some special guests to play with them, again with a very animated Ryan Robbins from Hellenkeller who danced around between dijeridoo bursts like a drunken witchdoctor and later a surprising appearance by Battlestar Galactica actor Aaron Douglas, who apparently is a Town Pants fan. Douglas stepped out on stage for to sing along for a song. I half expected to see the X-Files smoking man or that MacGyver guy from Stargate be the next special guest–that’s “Hollywood North” for you. Either way all present were clearly having a good time. Maybe it was the shocking amount of drinks some audience members were buying the band and bringing up to the front of the stage? Though I wondered how many the band really got to drink. I saw a lot of the dancing audience members bumping into drinks trays and accidentally knocking them over as they were being carried to the stage. Whoever mopped the floor at the end of the night must of had to stay late.

The whole audience was a pretty generous mix of college crowd, punkers, rockabilly types, and even some older folks…Towards the end of the night I saw a bunch of guys that looked like Rugby players in Dropkick Murphys shirts showing up to the bar and hang around at the front. I guess the show had sort of become the unofficial after party for the Dropkicks show, and they we’re singing along to the Town Pants songs no less hoarse from the show they’d just been to.

I had to split to get up early for work in the morning and the last thing I saw as I headed out the door was seeing that Mowhawked Exploited fan I’d seen earlier in the night making out with a cute girl wearing a Town Pants shirt. And the sight made for a perfect summation of the good vibes going on amongst both the Town Pants and McGillicuddy’s fans and everybody there in for a pretty great night of Celtic rock and roll.

Review by Ray Stonehouse

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There’s Clare! – Black 47, Jackdaw, The Gobshites, IceWagon Flu Rockin’ The Catskills (September 2006)

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I looked down just about every bottle of beer that was put in my hand, all the way to the bottom and did not find her anywhere. For three days we looked and she just wasn’t at the bottom of any of my glasses, where could she be?

I did find the Gobshite himself Pete Depressed wandering around all weekend looking to, he couldn’t find her either. We sat and talked it over, he convinced me to start my own band and actually be in it instead of just managing it. I told him I can’t remember lyrics to save my life, he said he was the same way when he got his start, yeah but has no one heard of you can’t teach a old dog new tricks and I’m the oldest dirtiest mangiest mutt out there. So after convincing me I decided that I couldn’t be distracted anymore and move on to the other side of the bar thinking I saw Clare over there. Well when I got to that side of the bar she wasn’t there but my old bag squeezing friend Joe from Black 47 was there hanging out with P2. Himself and I looked down a few bottles for her while we regaled days of old. We still couldn’t find her for the life of us.

Well finally Icewagon Flu got off the stage, and I was sure they would know, but at last after grabbing more bottles and searching down the one they was sure she would be, she once again eluded us. My brother was sure the shooter girls would know and pursued them for the truth rather vigorously, they didn’t know and he paid for his interrogation in the morning for sure, with memory loss, extreme loss of motivate to continue the hunt early, and strange unexplained headaches.

As The Gobshites played I was too distracted to look, as I felt compelled to sing along to there haunting love ballads and sweet classical music. Still riding on the high of such a great energy filled live set from Icewagon Flu, the Shites were able to step it up even one more notch. I’ve always said it’s not really how good the band plays there instruments, but how well they play the crowd, and this weekend showed why these particular bands are the top of the music scene for sure. But I digress, this is a hunt for Clare and I can’t be distracted!

I return to the bar with the indifferent and not to helpful bartenders opened a couple bottles that I might be where I’d find her, but no luck, I’ll just have to keep looking, but wait who’s on now? That old blond haired leprechaun in green shoes just jumped up wailing on his guitar, this could be interesting. All this determined searching for Clare also pulls me towards distraction after continuously being disappointed of not finding her. So I decide to get around me a good group of folks and chat up the dealings of the weekend and listen to that ever popular Black 47 organized noise. Joe was up there squeezing has bag in front of everyone in between swigs from a mystery bottle.

As they start pouring them off stage, I thought the night was just about over as my search and rescue funds were running really low, my brother and I were feeling a little odd as if there was some sort of narcotic like alcohol injected into our veins. It seemed that we were never going to find this mystery woman Clare. We began at that time to say our goodbyes.

Then as if the lighthouse shining through the fog giving us bearings, there she is right up on the stage the Gobshites were just on two hours ago! She was with the Jackdaw guys all night; boy was it worth the wait. They were a great bunch of lads and they even played a song about her that is still stuck in my head. I stayed and said the hell with the search and rescue funds, and drained them rabidly ready to stumble back to the tent, I’m sure we’ll find her again in the morning.

Review by Therover413

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Dropkick Murphys – The Showbox, Seattle WA (October 2005)

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Just got back from a really great DKM show here in Jet City! DKM rocked The Showbox with a nice, tight, energetic, fast-paced show that left little time if any time for the good sized crowd to catch it breath moving from song to song briskly but orderly. (If orderly can be used in this context.)

Starting off with “You’re Spirit’s Alive”, they moved through some of their new stuff, naturally, like “Sunshine Highway”, “Walking Dead”, “Citizen CIA”, “The Burden”,”Captain Kelly’s Kitchen”, “warrior’s Code” their older stuff, “Worker’s Song”, “Which Side Are You On?”, “Skinhead On the MTBA”, the “Spicy McHaggis Jig” with the ladies in the crowd on stage of course and ended with a cool cover of “Halloween” (yes, the one by the Misfits!) I’m sure I might have left one or two out but my ears are still ringin’. They never do “Good Rats” though…

During the set they also did a rather subdued version of “Fields Of Athenry” in honor of fallen USMC Sergeant Andrew Farrar who said in a letter to his family that he wanted the Murphy’s version of the same to played at his funeral if he didn’t make it back from Iraq. Sadly, he did not. The band has done a special limited edition of this and has made some copies available for sale with all proceeds going to the Farrar family.

On a side note, Ken Casey did a really cool thing during the show. There was a mohawked young kid at the front of the crowd with his father who was apparently having a bit of a problem with the crowd so Ken had one of the roadies get him out of there and on the side of the stage for a breather. Marc Orrell gave him a neat up close show as well.

Good on ya lads!

The opening acts, Lost City Angels and Gang Green were pretty good too. (Darkbuster was supposedly on the bill as well but I didn’t see ’em.) LCA did a nice set but the highlight was Marc Orrell from DKM doing vocals on Gang Green’s cover of “Sin City” by AC/DC. Speaking of Orrell, this guy is a dynamo on stage! He rarely takes a moment off and is gangbusters throughout.

Afterwards, there was a meet and greet along with a benefit for the Farrar family at a local pub. This was great fun as well with the band meeting everyone and auctioning off some signed goodies.

I was struck by how “everyday” these guys were. They were having a great time meeting and talking to everyone and didn’t come off with any kind of negative vibe at all. This was a great ending to the night.

All in all it was well worth the time and money. If you have a chance to see them, do it, you won’t be disappointed.

Definitely better than both their Moore Theater and Warped Tour gigs but those were venue related. The Moore HAD seats all the way to the stage, thus no pit, until there was some creative “redecorating” and the Gorge, as great as it is, is too big. Dropkick Murphys are best enjoyed in close and with full volume.

Thanks for the awesome show guys! See ya next time…

Review by The Blackstuff

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Flogging Molly/Street Dogs/The Briggs: House of Blues, Orlando – (September 22, 2004)

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I’ve seen The Briggs before, when I saw them open for Street Dogs on their Maiden Voyage Tour last year, and they were decent. When I saw them last, I’d just seen Dropkick Murphys two days before, and I’d seen so much bad punk (the opening acts) over a three-day span I was getting sick of the genre.

Same here — not bad, but I was here to see the last two bands. The Briggs got a lot of support from the crowd — apparently a lot of people were there to see this on this particular night. The band (who I don’t know as much about as I should) has a pirate theme (singer Joey LaRocca came out onstage in a captain’s hat that I think Ted Knight wore in “Caddyshack”), but I couldn’t tell if that made any difference in the music at all.

The last time I saw the Street Dogs was a year ago, and I had forgotten how good they were as a live band (though that show was in the now defunct Venom in St. Petersburg in front of about 20 people — sadly the night of Game 7 between the Red Sox and Yankees). The Briggs had asked the obligatory “Are you ready for Flogging Molly?” and also said, “And the Street Dogs are here!” The former got a big cheer, the latter barely anything (except for maybe me). So I wondered how many people there had heard of them. Not surprisingly, Mike McColgan makes the band a great live act, stalking the stage like a predator. He actually would give a nod to the fans who were singing the songs, pointing to them and thumping his chest in a show of appreciation.

The Boston band started with “Savin Hill” and moved right into “Jakes” and “Cut Down On the 12th” and a few of us were rocking out. You could tell who knew the band and who didn’t, but I heard a lot of people behind me singing along with McColgan. Other highlights: McColgan actually came out into the crowd to sing the start of “Fighter”, and had Flogging Molly’s Matt Hensley guest on a new song, “Tale of Mass Deception.” A great performance from one of the best live bands I’ve seen recently— I wish Street Dogs had more material, and am very much looking forward to their new “Back to the World” due in January 2005.

Ah yes, then Flogging Molly came out much to the delight of the crowd, which seemed like the majority had a two-page paper on the Louisiana Purchase due next week. They are also one of the The crush near the stage was impressive. I saw them at the Masquerade in Tampa back in March and I didn’t remember it being this bad. It of course was claustrophobic, hot, humid and sweaty. (After the show, my fingers wrinkled like I was swimming — I forget, is this normal?)

But though I was glad to be out of the mass at the end, I was disappointed the show was not longer. The songs from the new CD that you would imagine are great live songs — “Screaming at the Wailing Wall”, “Seven Deadly Sins”, “The Light From a Fading Star”, “Whistles The Wind” and “Tomorrow Comes A Day Too Soon” — didn’t disappoint.

Of course, the new material means that some of the songs I enjoyed in the past may have faded from their live repetoire, most notably in my case, “The Worst Day Since Yesterday.” In any event, they didn’t play it this night.

How Dave King (and the rest of Flogging Molly, for that matter) does this night after night almost mystifies me. If I started high-stepping like he did during Dennis Casey’s guitar solo on “Black Friday Rule”, I’d be sore for days.

Lastly, I’ve seen Flogging Molly five times in the past two years, and every time, I’ve seen some of the the band interacting with the fans before or after the show. I cannot overstate how much I appreciate this. (To be fair, Street Dogs and The Briggs were also hanging around the merchandise counter after the show, so props to them too.)

Hopefully, we’ll see Street Dogs and Flogging Molly hook up again for a show — it’s a great combination.

As an aside, the show also had a film presentation from Jello Biafra’s Punk Voter organization that got cheers from the Bush haters in the crowd, laughs for a Will Ferrell impression of Bush and elicited at least one shout of “Fuck politics!” So, um, vote. Or something.

Review by Rob Shore

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The Street Dogs / Contential – TT the Bears, Cambridge, MA (December 19, 2010)

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December 23, 2010

Somewhat a secret gig this one – a fund-raiser for the Boston Fire Fighters Fallen Veterans Fund – the gig was billed as Continental, The Fenian Sons and Special Guests. It wasn’t hard to figure out who the special guests were – punk-rockers, firefighters and ex-members of Dropkick Muphys (and especially since Continental opened for The Street Dogs at the legendary Paradise club the prior night).

Up first were Boston’s The Fenian Sons playing for the first time “over the river” in the Peoples Republic of Cambridge. Solid workman-like Irish ballad/rock group – most of the songs were well know standards with a few originals mixed in – “Boston Irish” was a stand out. I’ll definitely go see these guys again.

10.00 saw Rick Barton and his new band Continental hit the stage and they hit the stage hard. It would be unfair to call these guys a great punk band cos that would be so limiting – maybe a great LOUD rock’n’roll band. Barton at 50 (and he proudly told us so. A lot.) plays with the energy and passion of a man half his age in fact I’d say most 25 year olds would struggle to keep up and certainly would not have the shitty life experiences that Barton bleeds through his songs. Unfortunately, the Patriots football game as playing on a big screen behind the bar and as good as the band were the game as a bigger draw.

The Street Dogs were wise enough to come on after the game ended, ensuring full attention from all. Now, the last (and only time) I saw the Street Dogs play was opening for The Pogues in Boston’s Orphium theater a few years back – big stage, empty seats cos most of punters were off buying booze somewhere else prior to The Pogues set (opening for The Pogues is tough). Tonight, TTs was the perfect place to see the Street Dogs – a small, sweaty rock club and the band was on fire and the audience lapping it up with moshing and circle pits galore. Mike McColgan was outstanding as a front man and easily broke down the wall of separation between band and audience as he brought friends and punters onto the stage and launched himself off the stage into the crowd.

It was great to hear lots of stuff off the early albums (especially since I haven’t heard the last 2 releases after their label stopped sending me their stuff to review……..bastards) – Jakes, Cutdown on the 12th, Savin Hill. Tonight, the Street Dogs were the best damn rock’n’punk band in the world.