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Review & setlist: Dropkick Murphys pound one out ‘For Boston’ at MGM Music Hall
Boston’s beloved punk rockers kept St. Patrick’s Day weekend rocking as loud as ever at their second of four shows this week.
Dropkick Murphys, with Pennywise and The Scratch, at MGM Music Hall at Fenway, Friday, March 15
The boys are back.
There are some artists whose work is so entwined with their roots, their music is not only a reflection of where they are from, but, in time, imprinted into the very DNA of their hometowns: Bruce Springsteen and New Jersey. The Beatles and Liverpool.
And even with Boston’s trove of legendary bands who have at some point called this place home, none have carried this city — with its storied and gritty culture and tough-as-nails attitude — more proudly on their sleeves than the Dropkick Murphys.
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That’s what makes the band’s homecoming shows this weekend at MGM Music Hall outside Fenway Park so fun — and what keeps its passionate fan base coming back, year after year.
Continuing what frontman Ken Casey guesstimates is the band’s 24th annual St. Patrick’s Day hometown stand, the Dropkick Murphys threw forth a stampede of songs from their signature Celtic-punk catalog with an unrelenting ferocity and the jubilance of a massive family reunion on Friday night.
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For an hour and 43 minutes, the boys romped through a setlist that dug into the band’s past and spanned their all-time fan favorites, opening with their rowdy take on the Boston College fight song, “For Boston,” and their rebel-rousing “The Boys Are Back,” and ending with the encore-closing, “Kiss Me, I’m Sh**faced,” with a jammed and bewildered venue swaying in unison.
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Throughout, Casey beamed a big smile, clearly feeding off that electric crowd, his ever-present growl sounding like a battle cry during the first shots of war.
“Holy sh-t,” he said, just after six songs into the 25 on Friday’s setlist, amid plenty of crowd surfing from fans that kept the front rows alive and rocking much of the night.
“I feel bad for Saturday and Sunday night because they’re going to have a hard time topping this right here,” Casey declared.
Indeed, the show marked the second of the four-night sold-out run — following a gig at the House of Blues across Landsdowne Street on Thursday night — that culminates on Sunday’s holiday. (The Sunday night show will be available to fans worldwide, thanks to a livestream for $24.99.)
For the band, it’s hard to overstate just how great it feels to end the most recent leg of the Murphys’ tour here at home, said Casey, clearly reveling in the warmth of a Boston crowd.
After all, the fans around here are “some of the best people” to perform for, he added.
The band has been on the road touring behind 2023’s “Okemah Rising,” the second album in as many years featuring mostly previously unpublished lyrics of legendary folk singer Woody Guthrie. In June, they head out again for a sweep through Europe.
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On Friday though, the focus was on Boston — and its people.
MGM Music Hall’s third floor balcony was packed for “Union Solidarity Night” — an occasion that called for a dust-off of the aptly named “Worker’s Song.”
“Of course we’ve always had the back of the men and women in organized labor and now, they’ve been coming to our shows in groups in a bunch of different cities and states. It’s been incredible,” Casey said. “Thank you, guys. We love you.”
From there, the Murphys piled on, blasting into “Prisoner’s Song” — led by the impeccably precise banjoist Jeff DaRosa and accordionist Tim Brennan — and diving into “Johnny I Hardly Knew Ya.”
The parade continued with the driving “Caught In a Jar;” the union call-to-action of “Which Side Are You On?;” and a mid-set rendition of “The State of Massachusetts” that ratcheted the show up another notch.
Keeping things moving under a steady barrage were guitarist James Lynch, drummer Matt Kelly, bassist Kevin Rheault, and bagpiper and multi-instrumentalist Campbell Webster, who helped give the Murphys some of their Celtic flair.
Casey was fired up throughout the performance, rarely stopping to stand in one place longer than a few seconds.
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He did take a pause in the action at one point to blast a couple of phone-toting crowd surfers, who took selfie videos as they were carried above the masses.
Casey lamented how they made the security guards’ jobs all the more difficult when they refused to let go of their devices, even as security scrambled to safely lift them over a front-row stage barrier.
“These poor guys are trying to catch you and you can’t offer any help … because you’re too busy taking a freaking Snapchat or an Instagram. Are you s—ting me? Are you s—ting me? That’s the least punk rock thing I’ve ever seen in my life,” he quipped. “It had to be said!”
At other times, Casey paused to offer song dedications, including one for the Murphys’ Red Sox anthem, “Tessie,” remarking how it’s now been nearly 20 years since the Sox’s historic 2004 World Series win and the smashing of the Curse of the Bambino.
Casey dedicated Friday’s rendition to “the memory of our good friend,” the late Red Sox pitcher Tim Wakefield, who died at age 57 in October after suffering from brain cancer, and Wakefield’s “lovely wife,” Stacy, who died in February after battling cancer as well.
The band also paid tribute to the late Shane MacGowan — lead singer and songwriter of the Irish band, The Pogues, who died in November — with a passionate cover of “Body of An American.” Casey remarked that without MacGowan, “there would be no Dropkick Murphys.”
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A late-set, one-two punch of “Rose Tattoo” and “Shipping Up To Boston” left the Music Hall rattling. The latter’s iconic riff — sure to grace the streets of Southie this weekend — is every bit as biting, fresh, and thorny today as it was when it graced the opening title scenes of Martin Scorcese’s “The Departed” back in 2006.
And, unfathomably, the Murphys still had more room left before they broke through the ceiling. The closer, “Kiss Me, I’m Sh**faced,” had the place shouting along, undoubtedly louder than at any point before in the hurricane of bagpipes, accordions, banjos, and drums that blew this way on Lansdowne Street on Friday night.
Yes, Dropkick Murphys still carry the loud and unapologetic spirit of Bostonian grit and joy — and God bless ’em for that.
Setlist for Dropkick Murphys at MGM Music Hall, March 15, 2024
Dropkick Murphys took the stage at 9 p.m. The show ended at 10:43 p.m.
- For Boston
- The Boys Are Back
- Climbing A Chair To Bed
- Going Out In Style
- Worker’s Song
- Prisoner’s Song
- Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya
- Caught In A Jar
- The Irish Rover
- Tomorrow’s Industry
- Which Side Are You On?
- Curse Of A Fallen Soul
- The Gauntlet
- The Dirty Glass
- The Auld Triangle
- State of Massachusetts
- James Connolly
- Tessie
- The Body Of An American (The Pogues cover)
- The Hardest Mile
- Rose Tattoo
- Shipping Up To Boston
- Until The Next Time
ENCORE:
- Barroom Hero
- Kiss Me, I’m Sh**faced
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