June 29th 2017 – O2 Academy, Bournemouth
Supported by: The Living End
What a bonus tonight. Not only do I get to see The Dropkick Murphy’s locally, but they’ve got my all time faves, The Living End, as their support act!!!
A balmy June evening means it’s going to be a hot and sweaty one! Ok, so my mosh pit days are behind me, but tonight, I’m very tempted to warm up the hamstrings and get stuck in!!!
I’d already got a ticket to see The Living End at Portsmouth Wedgewood Rooms in a few weeks time which was only announced a few days before this gig. I hadn’t realised they were the support tonight, if I had, maybe I wouldn’t be going to Pompey, but hey, seeing them twice is no problem!!
The Living End
I may say this every time I write up a concert from these boys….but repetition is a sign of enthusiasm! This is one of Australia’s greatest exports – I insist you listen to them!!
Even more, I love watching a crowd seeing something for the first time and tonight I’m not sure most of them knew what to expect as a guitarist, a double bass player and a drummer waltz on stage! Anyway, the hundred or so starting crowd were in for a treat.
Chris Cheney (vocals, guitar), Scott Owen (double bass, vocals), and Andy Strachan (drums)
Straight into “Roll On”, a great sing along if you know the words…..if you don’t, you do by the second play of the chorus!
We’ll roll on with our heads held high
Roll On – The Living End
Our conscience in the gutter
Our dreams up in the sky
Crowd vaguely won over (and had swelled to a pretty full venue now), so “Second Solution” was a god choice to show off the band’s skills and “Who’s Gonna Save Us?” went down well. Quite a few watching now and less at the bar, just in time for a couple of hits in this short set.
Some great work from Scott on double bass with some great balancing on it while playing and a bit of Scott balancing as well, Andy Strachan setting a fantastic tempo on the drums. Then “Prisoner of Society” went down really really well.
Now time for Chris Cheney to show off his guitar playing with “E-Boogie” mesmerising the crowd and getting them to join in, fantastic!
Just time to finish with “West End Riots”. Another great effort from the boys, another set of fans on board and looking for those old records.
Set List
- Roll On
- Second Solution
- Who’s Gonna Save Us?
- How Do We Know
- Prisoner of Society
- E-Boogie
- West End Riot
Dropkick Murphy’s
Now you know what you’re going to get at a Dropkick concert….Irish American balls and bluster. Ploughing out the tunes with Irish backdrop…oh and bagpipes!!!
Having said that, I hadn’t realised how popular The Dropkicks were, a very full venue and an electric atmosphere of anticipation.
I’ve mainly seen this band at the Reading Festival, so it’s about time I listened to them in a small venue and Bournemouth O2 is hosting the boys tonight.
The afore mentioned bagpipes (Lee Forshner who replace long timer, Josh “Scruffy” Wallace) open the show to a packed crowd. The Dropkicks are a rock and roll band, a bit of a cross between the Pogues, Punk, Rock and prize fighters!! The Dropkicks work with two very strong lead singers in Al Barr and Ken Casey taking it in turns to bash out the tunes.
It’s a really intense heavy rock beak that you get with The Dropkicks, involving the full set of instruments, including the bagpipes, tin whistles, mandolin, accordian, harmonica and banjos as well as few guitars and bass players and obligatory drummer, I think there are currently 7 main members of the band (6 when bagpipes leave the stage)….a busy small stage here in Boscombe, Bournemouth.
The main guitar work comes from Tim Brennan (and most of the various other instruments), but four other members of the band weigh in with extra rhythm, which gives the band a really strong, violent line in Celtic Punk and Rock.
The opening track “The Lonesome Boatman” is an Irish cover off the new album and on the album track it incorporates fans at gigs singing which makes it an ideal opening for the crowd to warm up their vocal chords with a sport like chant.
“Hang Em High” is anthemic with a heavy military drum sound and fantastic warrior like vocals and in there is a personal favourite of “The Boys Are Back” (nothing to do with Thin Lizzy).
The obligatory Fields of Athenry and the beats just don’t stop and the power doesn’t let up all night. The younger members of the crowd are loving the enthusiastic and very busy moshpit, many a tired out waif walks past us to seek solace at the back for a bit!
As you would expect, there’s quite a few tracks off the latest album and tour name “11 Short Stories of Pain and Glory” and “Paying My Way” has a particularly emotional back story, around the fight to overcome drug addiction and the band are well known for the charity work supporting the cause in and around Boston, Massachusetts.
The Dropkicks have the perfect sound during their cover version of Sham 69’s “If the Kids Are United” and starts off a great encore.
Why, oh why, haven’t I seen these guys in a small venue before! Any which way, I have now and it was a right stormer! Thanks guys!……”Until the Next Time”…..
Set List
- The Foggy Dew (Sinéad O’Connor song)
- The Lonesome Boatman (The Fureys cover)
- Hang ‘Em High
- Blood
- I Had a Hat (cover)
- Rebels with a Cause
- The Boys Are Back
- Going Out in Style
- Rose Tattoo
- Sunday Hardcore Matinee
- The Fields of Athenry (Pete St. John cover)
- As One
- Famous for Nothing
- The Gang’s All Here
- Paying My Way
- Barroom Hero / Do or Die / Never Alone / Boys on the Docks
- You’ll Never Walk Alone (Rodgers & Hammerstein cover)
- First Class Loser
- Out of Our Heads
- Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya
- Worker’s Song
- Encore: If the Kids Are United (Sham 69 cover), I’m Shipping Up to Boston, Until the Next Time
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