Dropkick Murphy’s 30th Anniversary tour gets underway
Dropkick Murphy’s are For The People. photo by kim moenich
Well, if the first leg of the Dropkick Murphy’s 30th anniversary tour is any indication of what their St. Patrick’s Day shows are going to bring us, we are in for a massive treat! I was fortunate enough to see the boys, along with openers California’s Slugger, Haywire, and The Aggrolites, in both Raleigh, NC, and Myrtle Beach, SC, this week. Raleigh was a sold-out performance, and Myrtle Beach was nearly so. They had us packed to the rafters, and trying to navigate the crowds to get my shots in was not the easiest of tasks- I literally felt like I’d run a marathon by the time the night finally ended. But it was well worth it for the mayhem I was fortunate enough to witness!
Jeff DaRosa giving the people what they want! photo by kim moenich
Right out of the gate, Slugger brought the energy. A self-proclaimed anti-fascist Oi band, these Cali natives have only been on the scene for a few years, but they definitely know what they are doing. I was able to spend some time after the show with Dropkick’s frontman, Ken Casey, and I asked him how he settled on these guys. Ken told me that it’s really important on these tours, especially right now, to find bands whose message matches the one DKM is trying to get out to the people in this moment. When he heard Slugger, he knew right away that he wanted them for this tour. With songs like “How Much More Can We Take” and “Dead State," Slugger sings the anthem of a working class that’s sick and tired of feeling the boot of the government on their neck. That’s exactly the spirit that Dropkicks have always expressed, making Slugger the perfect opener for this tour.
Haywire. If you have not heard of these guys yet, you must be living under a rock. The Boston boys have simply exploded onto the scene, blending the hardcore and punk genres, such that they have toured with bands like Terror and Negative Approach and headlined Revolution. Calling above bands like Gorilla Biscuits and Hatebreed and opening for the DKM/Bad Religion tour last year. These guys have only been around for two years, but they have quickly come to dominate, and now I know why. I admit to being a bit nervous going into their set, as a quick Google search of their shows will bring you to some viral videos of their absolutely maniacal pits—trashcans being thrown around, people starting bilateral walls of death, etc. Fortunately for my safety (but unfortunately for my photos!), both shows I attended were relatively tame, with only a handful of stage divers/crowd surfers, and lead singer Austin remaining onstage instead of performing his well-known backflips into the crowd. I was lucky enough to get to talk to Austin backstage, and he graciously agreed to recreate his photo from the back of the new split with DKM for me (a Photoshop contest about said photo to follow!).
Speaking of the split, Dropkicks and Haywire teamed up to put out a new split 12” LP, featuring 4 songs from each band. The LP, titled "New England Forever," opens with the collabed version of the DKM hit, “Citizen I.C.E.," which was a reworked version of their song “Citizen CIA." Austin sings with Ken on the song, and they have been performing it together on tour. The album also features DKM covering the Haywire song “Always By My Side," while Haywire covers the traditional DKM anthem, “The Boys Are Back." The albums can only be purchased on the tour, so if you needed one more reason to go to the shows, there ya go! I managed to snag one of the copies that had been autographed by both bands for a donation to the Claddagh Fund, the Dropkick’s Charity Foundation.
Austin of Haywire. photo by kim moenich
It’s been my great fortune to have seen The Aggrolites numerous times over the last few years, as they have been the backing band for such greats as Lynval Golding. They were the house band for the Greg Lee tribute show I went to in Los Angeles, and I saw them open for Dropkick Murphys and Sick of It All back in 2007. The band has been around almost as long as the Dropkicks have, coming up in LA back at the turn of the century. They mix elements of reggae, ska, and punk to create a sound they have dubbed “dirty reggae." Led by singer Jesse Wagner, these guys are true musicians in every sense of the word. I think a lot of people wondered how they would fit in on a lineup of mostly hard punk and Oi bands, but The Aggrolites quickly showed everyone just how much they belonged on that stage. My favorite part of the show was when they covered “Gangsters” by The Specials. The crowd went absolutely crazy, and the song’s been stuck in my head ever since!
I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve seen Dropkick Murphys at this point, but it’s well over a hundred times. My husband and I realized, while standing in line for the Myrtle Beach show, that the last time we had seen the band at the House of Blues Myrtle Beach was in 2019, when Ken announced our engagement onstage. Quick side story—during the set, Ken accidentally stepped on my then-boyfriend's fingers when he had come down onto the rail. For the closing song, the band used to allow audience members to come up onstage, so my husband and I had gone up. While there, Ken noticed my now-husband and asked if his hand was okay. In his one moment of complete and utter smoothness, my husband replied, “It’s not my hand you should be worried about," and held out my hand to Ken, showing off my engagement ring. Ken got super excited and announced our engagement to the crowd. We were fortunate enough to relate that story to Ken after the show this week, and it felt like a full-circle moment.
To say these two shows were incredible is such an understatement. From the deep cuts DKM was playing to the words Ken shared onstage to Austin from Haywire joining the band for “Citizen I.C.E.," it was a wild ride from start to finish. At one point, a guy passed a shirt up to Ken, which read, “ICE can gargle my balls." Ken died laughing and paused the show to get the guy an autographed DKM shirt in exchange. The sets contained several songs off the new album, “For The People," including “Chesterfields and Aftershave," which makes me cry every time. “The Green Fields of France” was another emotional one, and I saw the career Marine beside me tear up for that. Those DKM guys definitely know how to bring out the emotions, the good, the bad, and the ugly, and we all love them for it.
Less than a month before I head up to Boston for four days of (sober) debauchery as the St. Patrick’s Day shows at the MGM Fenway and House of Blues Boston get underway. Have my hotel booked (within walking distance), my warm clothes packed, and my friends waiting. I know that, without a doubt, it’s going to be one for the ages!
