Dropkick Murphys

Dropkick Murphys


On Saturday I went to see the Dropkick Murphys at the House of Blues in Boston with my friend Chris who goes to Olin College of Engineering.
There were two lesser-known opening bands, The Have Nots and Creepshow. The show was slightly awkward as it took place during the middle of the day and all three bands expected the crowd to be less rowdy. This performance was a few days before St. Patrick's Day in Boston so there were many people drinking copious amounts of beer and wearing green.
The first band of the day, The Have Nots, was a punk-rock-ska band consisting of a drummer, a base player, and two lead guitar and vocalists. I enjoyed this band because of their relatively simple show without fancy outfits or lighting, which allowed me to focus more on their playing. The guitarists were fun to watch as they play with a ska style so their fingers were moving quickly and hitting the fret board to make short and distinct notes. While this band was not well known, I enjoyed their style better than the second opening band.

Lead singer for Creepshow

Creepshow consisted of three males: a drummer, an organist/vocalist, a stand up bassist/vocalist, and a female lead guitarist/vocalist. While this band was a bit livelier than the first, and was able to get the crowd to mosh a bit more, I was not as big of a fan of their actual music. Their guitar and bass playing did not seem very complicated and I felt as if some of their songs were repetitive.

After 20-30 minutes of stage prep time, Dropkick Murphys started their performance. I was really impressed by the stage setup with a front curtain displaying illuminated Irish crosses, which was then pulled down by stage-workers at the start of the show; it was all quite dramatic. I was not very familiar with the band and was surprised to see how many different instruments were played throughout the show: bass guitar, electric guitar, drums, accordion, mandolin, banjo, whistle, acoustic guitar, and bagpipes. Also, during one song where all of the ‘lasses’ at the show were invited onto the stage to sing one of their more popular songs, a group of string players were also present on stage which included a violinist, a cellist, and a double bass player.
View from the stage as I sang with the song *Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced*, one of the more popular songs by this band.

Playing in their hometown I think is always a good experience for this band since most of the people at the show knew almost all of the lyrics to each song and everyone appeared to be really enjoying the music. My favorite part of the show was being able to go up on stage and sing with the band and standing next to one of the guitarists, who happens to play a beautiful Gibsonguitar.