These days, everyone seems to want to be Irish. The Irish band wagon passed by DeMattias, and now every frat boy in town is sporting a celtic cross tattoo or a Guinness T-shirt. As a pure-bred Kraut, I find this kind of annoying. But I’m sure I would find it even more annoying if I were actually Irish. One of the few times I can let myself be surrounded with all the Emerald-Isle hype, and not steamed, is when I’m at a Flogging Molly show.
Flogging Molly came to Pop’s last week on their Black 17 tour with The Briggs and The Dead Pets. The Dead Pets started the night off, and they started it off right. Mixing a horn section with a classic British Oi! sound, they were very well-received by the crowd. Their grimy English accents only helped the crowd feel more like a soccer riot. The Briggs followed The Dead Pets but failed to kick it up a notch. Their almost-generic brand of American street-punk, while energetic, seemed tired, especially after following the nutty energy of The Dead Pets.
After a brief break, Flogging Molly finally took the stage. Flogging Molly has the rare honor of being one of those bands that never really needs to change their sound, but still remain relevant, like Rage Against the Machine or Cake. Their three studio albums all kind of sound the same, and that sound is damned good.
If you haven’t heard Flogging Molly, then you need to crawl out from under your rock, or pull your head out of Jason Mraz’s (or Switchfoot’s) ass. Remaining on an Indie label (Side One Dummy) their whole career, Flogging Molly has managed to amass a huge fan base without any manufactured buzz.
Their current tour has been split into two different, intertwining legs: The Green 17 and the Black 17. the Green 17 shows are for all ages and showcase Flogging Molly’s punk side. The Black 17 shows showcase Flogging Molly’s folk side and are for 21+. The show at Pop’s was definitely a Green 17 show; metal studs and mohawks Festooned the crowd.
As far as set list construction goes, Flogging Molly can do no wrong. Since every song is a hit with the fans, they can pick songs at random and still make the whole crowd giddy. The big classics, such as “The Likes of You Again” and “Drunken Lullabies” were obviously prominent in the set, but it was some of the newer, lesser-known songs that stole the show.
The easy-going “Factory Girls” (which is a duet with Lucinda Williams on the album) translated well on stage with fiddler Bridget Regan filling in nicely for Williams on the female verses. The triumph of the night was the intense Celtic jam “Tobacco Island,” during which lead singer Dave King invited the crowd to dance upon the grave of Oliver Cromwell.
The crowd was a non-stop jovial mosh pit of dancing hooligans as the band tore though tracks from their short but brilliant discography (Swagger, Drunken Lullabies and Within A Mile of Home).
The evening came to an end with the trumpet player from Dead Pets joining Flogging Molly on stage for a rousing rendition of the obscure “Sentimental Johnny,” the band’s only Tex-Mex tune to date. You don’t even need to be Irish or even have heard a Flogging Molly song in your life in order to enjoy a Flogging Molly show. Just bring a smile and lace up your boots.
