Who’s ready to get rowdy with the Dropkick Murphys?
At this school, we are all Irish on two days of every year, the first day obviously being Unofficial St. Patrick’s Day, and the second being when the Dropkick Murphys bring their punky-Irish energy to this party-hardy town. Here’s the lowdown: this Friday, Canopy Club is sold out. Sorry, folks. I’m sure there’s some Dropkick fan you can convince to trade his or her $28 ticket for a comparably priced bottle of Jameson. The doors to Irish insanity open at 8 p.m., with Teenage Bottlerocket and The Mahones kicking off the event.
So what’s the big whoop about these guys? Well, for one, if you’ve never heard the following song, you’ve most certainly been living under a Blarney stone:
You may remember this song from The Departed, an Academy-Award winning movie, or from seeing their chaotically high energy performances at Lollapalooza, or the many other venues this constantly-touring band has graced.
Check it out in this scene of The Departed:
Make sure to bring your elbow pads to this one. And your gaudy booze hat that you’ve had stashed away in your closet since last St. Patrick’s Day. There will no doubt be a little shoving, a bit of jigging, some impromptu Irish dancing, and a lot of green. If you don’t wear green, there may be more severe repercussions than a mere pinching at this show. No guarantees here. Take a look at the plethora of pit videos on YouTube if you don’t believe how crazy the fans can get. This show will not be for the faint of heart or the overly intoxicated. OK, so maybe it will be for the overly intoxicated.
The song has become a staple of Boston athletic teams, too. Red Sox pitcher Jonathan Papelbon did a jig for all the fans at Fenway before stepping up to the plate. I stumbled upon a particularly hilarious video on YouTube of him doing it. Fans of the Red Sox say the place blows up when “I’m Shipping Off to Boston” comes on. They also play “Dirty Water” at the end of games.
He’s actually got some skills. I’m no dancer, but it looks like he’s had some dance lessons:
The band is not actually from Boston or Ireland, but the town of Quincy, Massachusetts. Their original label was Hellcat Records, and they clawed their way to fame by playing in Boston on and around St. Paddy’s Day. The band’s influences include classic 70s punkers The Sex Pistols and The Clash, as well as the Irish-y punkers The Pogues and classic rock legends AC/DC.
Ken Casey, the band’s frontman, stated: “I think our goal is to be the AC/DC of Celtic punk rock. The worst thing we can do to the local fans who have stuck with us is to all of a sudden try to be Fall Out Boy with bagpipes.”
Knocking Fall Out Boy never seems to go out of fashion, does it? Good stuff.
The band first reached the ears of the masses in 1999 on the MTV show 120 Minutes, back in the good old days when MTV played music and not reruns of Made and endless spinoffs of Jersey Shore. By the time Dropkick Murphys reached their third album, they started to come into their own musically, featuring Pogues frontman and influence Shane MacGowan on the album, and shuffling up the lineup significantly. They dropped the huge single “Tessie,” based off a tradition Boston Red Sox song in 2004, which is still played at games alongside “Dirty Water” that I brought up earlier. Boston fans sure do love their Dropkick Murphys.
As the band flowed more and more with the mainstream, they had some impressive collaborations with the likes of Bruce Springsteen and Aerosmith, and they toured with the Mighty Mighty Bosstones. They played to a crowd of over 10,000 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island, the biggest crowd in the band’s 18-year span. And for all you lucky ducks who secured your Canopy Club ticket, you’ll have the honor of seeing them in a much more visible, intimate venue.
On August 24, 2012, the DM announced their new album via Facebook, entitled Signed and Sealed in Blood slated to release on January 8, 2013. “Rose Tattoo” is the name of their new single, which is hot off the press, having been released November 7.
Here it is for your viewing enjoyment:
Makes me want to go to Murphy’s pub on campus and listen to Dropkick Murphys while drinking a Guinness in order to bolster the meager quarter Irish in my blood.
For all of you going to the show, I wish you safety and one hell of a time. For those of you looking for a ticket, dig through all those dead leaves on the dirty ground in search of a four-leaf clover for a bit of luck.