It doesn’t have to be St. Patrick’s Day to get your party on when Flogging Molly comes to town. Their Thursday evening session at Berkeley, California’s Greek Theater with co-headliner Social Distortion proved that again to be the case.
The evening kicked off with a fiery set from Le Butcherettes that featured a mesmerizing performance by vocalist Teri Gender Bender which demanded the attention of the gathering crowd. A quick change-over later and The Devil Makes Three was on stage and the general admission floor was packed. Hailing from Santa Cruz, TDM3 is pretty much considered a local band in these parts and the crowd welcomed them as such, dancing and singing along with a fervor that’s rarely reserved for the opening acts.
As the sun set over the San Francisco Bay, the drinks were flowing and the eager crowd was sufficiently lubricated as Flogging Molly took the stage, Dave King toasting the crowd with a can of Guinness, before appropriately launching into “Drunken Lullabies.”
Even with a co-headliner in toe, playing Berkeley’s Greek Theater with a capacity just shy of 6,000 was an ambitious endeavor. And while certainly nowhere near sold out, at no point did the venue feel empty; in fact, the extra elbow room on the general admission floor made room for some pretty epic pit action … I mean, what else are you supposed to do when the band busts out “Devil’s Dance Floor?”
The hour-long set was rambunctious, even though it hit the tail end of a tour. And for those fans that were left wanting, they got a second dose during Social Distortion when they returned to the stage for “Sometimes I Do.”
There were no excuses for those having to work the next day because the show wrapped before 10 pm but it’s more likely that the party went well into the night for many. Flogging Molly always guarantees a good time.
LE BUTCHERETTES
DEVIL MAKES THREE
FLOGGING MOLLY SETLIST
Drunken Lullabies
The Hand of John L. Sullivan
Another Bag of Bricks
Saints & Sinners
Float
The Days We’ve Yet to Meet
Tobacco Island
A Prayer for Me in Silence
Devil’s Dance Floor
Crushed (Hostile Nations) (We Will Rock You snippet)
What’s Left of the Flag
The Seven Deadly Sins
If I Ever Leave This World Alive
