TVD Live Shots: Dropkick Murphys, Flogging Molly, and Jake Burns at the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, 9/27

Dropkick Murphys

It’s been a long time coming … the obvious touring matchup between Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly. The day finally came to San Francisco’s Bill Graham Civic Auditorium, the streets outside the venue still littered with the evidence from Metallica’s crushing performance only the night before. Chances are, the folks attending this Thursday night show didn’t even notice between dodging the derelicts that were no longer shut out of their streets.

The evening kicked off early with a 30 minute acoustic set by Stiff Little Fingers’ frontman, Jake Burns. Seated in a chair with only his guitar, Jake riffed and ripped through SLF tunes storyteller style with tales from the writing and recording of SLF classics which included a recounting of how he hung up on The Who’s Pete Townshend. No doubt Jake was one of the highlights of what would turn out to be a great evening of music.

Flogging Molly

Flogging Molly took the stage in true Flogging Molly fashion, toasting the crowd with cans of Guinness beer before ripping into “Paddy’s Lament.” Notably absent from this evening’s line-up was banjo player Bob Schmidt but that didn’t seem to stop the San Francisco crowd from impressing frontman Dave King with plenty of dancing. No doubt, Flogging Molly quickly ramped the party at the Bill Graham into full tilt mode as the pounded through the classics as well as a few “new” (ish) tunes and occasionally “ribbing” on NOFX’s Fat Mike who was enjoying the show from side stage.

As the Flogging Molly set wrapped to “If I Ever Leave This World Alive,” much of the crowd evacuated the general admission floor. No worries, though, the all came back in time for the curtain to drop on the Dropkick Murphys stage. The longtime fan would immediate notice some changes, most notably co-vocalist had ditched his bass allowing him to join fellow vocalist Al Barr scurrying about the stage. Having those guys all over the place and hopping out onto the barricade amped up would what historically already been a high-energy set.

The massive LED screens which had served as Flogging Mollys backdrop lit up with video to support the setlist and giving the surprisingly rabid crowd (especially after FM’s set) queues (as if they were needed). The Dropkicks didn’t slow down throughout the 90 minute set that included their traditional invite of the female crowd members on stage for “Kiss Me, I’m Shitfaced.”

Apparently when you stick Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys on the same stage, you’re pretty much guaranteed a good time though it’s likely that Friday morning was met with a bumps, bruises, and hangovers.

DROPKICK MURPHYS