Dropkick Murphys - Riviera Theatre - Chicago, IL - 2014-02-23

I got a call around 9pm last Friday night  from Mike asking me if I wanted to go see the Dropkick Murphys that coming Sunday night.  Of course, we said yes.

Sunday, we headed into Chicago to meet Mike and Happy Jack at Fat Cat's which is down the street from the venue, Riviera Theatre.  We had a bite to eat and a few drinks and then headed to the show around 8pm.  When we got there, Mike went to get the tickets.  I forgot to mention that he is a friend of Ken Casey, the Dropkick Murphys singer/bass player/band leader.  Mike came back with some All Access and VIP passes.

Mike and I went backstage to try to find the dressing room and Ken.  We saw a few members of the band, and Mike introduced me to Evan, the tour manager.  Then Ken showed up, and I was introduced to him. We found out from Evan the band had saved a section in the balcony facing the right side of the stage for the VIP seats.  We proceeded to our seats.

They kicked off the show with some older songs which was nice to get to see them play live.  After about 3 songs, Ken announced that if you hadn't noticed yet, they were playing their first album, Do or Die, in its entirety.  When they ripped through that they called the boys up on stage while they played "Skinhead on the MBTA" followed by "Out of Our Heads" and BTO's "Takin' Care of Business".  During the BTO cover, they also through in some lyrics from "American Band" and the Hey Ho Let's Go! chants from the Ramones.

They took a minute or so to clear out the stage and fix whatever may have broken (as Ken put it before he called folks onto the stage), and then went into a "second" set.  This set had more of the newer songs that most of the audience was probably there to here.

Before the band broke into "End of the Night", they called the ladies up on stage.  At this point, we convinced Wendy to take the All Access pass and go up on stage from the side of the stage rather than climbing over the barrier.  After that, they broke into "Shipping Up to Boston" and finished the set.

After the show, we waited around to find out where the VIP after party was taking place.  Mike went to get Ken to see what was happening.  Ken came out and shook everyone's hand.  After another few minutes, we all headed to the bar area at the front of the venue.  Ken spent time talking with the 20-30 people that were there.  We got to spend another 10 minutes are so talking to him, and got to hear an interesting story about the Boston Red Sox parade and the Boston mayoral elections.  We managed to get a picture taken with Ken too.

I managed to get a picture of the setlist from a youngster who was at the side of the stage all night.  I didn't recognize it until the next day that the band had signed it for him.  Lucky kid!

Thank you's go out to my buddy Dave who made the arrangements for me through Mike, for Mike who got us a sweet, unforgettable evening meeting Ken Casey and getting backstage, and for Happy Jack for being a cool cat and being fun to hang out with.  It was a memorable evening that we will never forget.

Dropkick Murphys - House of Blues, Boston - 2013-03-17

A few minutes prior to buying the VIP ticket package, I bought the tickets for the Dropkick Murphys St Pat's Day show at the House of Blues.  At the time, they only way to get the tix for that show was to buy the combo package with tix for the TD Garden and the HoB shows.  I ended up giving my cousin Jody and his girlfriend my extra set of ticket for the TD Garden show.

The sound at this show was so much better than at the TD Garden.  The setlist was pretty different too.

1.Cadence to Arms 
2.The Boys Are Back 
3.The Fighting 69th 
4.Burn 
5.Barroom Hero 
6.Amazing Grace 
7.A Few Good Men 
8.Pipebomb on Landsowne 
9.Prisoner's Song 
10.Jimmy Collins' Wake 
11.Captain Kelly's Kitchen 
12.Forever 
13.Worker's Song 
14.The Wild Rover 
15.The Dirty Glass 
16.Bastards on Parade 
17.God Willing 
18.Rose Tattoo 
19.On the Attack 
20.The Battle Rages On 
21.Don't Tear Us Apart 
22.Out of Our Heads 
23.Dirty Water (The Standells cover)
24.I'm Shipping Up to Boston (played instrumental with crowd singing vocals)
Encore:
25.End of the Night 
26.Skinhead on the MBTA 
27.Alcohol (Gang Green cover) (Scruffy Wallace on Vocals)

Somewhere in the mix, they played a cover of Cock Sparrer's "Watch Your Back" which was the second best highlight of the night for me.  The first highlight was when the band brought 4 members of the military force that killed Osama Bin Laden on stage prior to singing "Forever".  I thought I was at a WWF event as the crowd broke into a USA chant!

I had never seen the band play "Dirty Water" live and that was a treat.  It was also great to hear them play "End of the Night" and let the women on stage.  We left after that song which is very unfortunate as I would have really like to have heard them cover "Alcohol".

"End of the Night" was the great way to end the night and cap off the weekend.  We beat the crowd to the cabs, and headed back to the hotel exhausted.

 

 

 

 

 

Dropkick Murphys - Boston TD Garden - 2013-03-15

Back on Black Friday, I purchased a VIP package for Wendy and me to go see the Dropkick Murphys at TD Garden in Boston on St Pat's weekend.  It turns out that there were about 300 people that had the VIP package which was a little more than I expected but still a relatively select group.

We arrived at TD Garden at about 3pm to wait to check in, and then waited about another 30 minutes before the festivities started.  As part of the package, we were able to go to the soundcheck.  The band played 5 songs for us.

The State of Massachusetts (which they did not play at any of their 3 concerts that weekend - only for us :) )
The Dirty Glass (with one of the Parkington Sisters)
Barroom Hero (they let someone from the crowd sing it)
Kiss Me I'm Shitfaced (Ken was trying out the acoustics while he walked the rink)
I don't remember the 5th tune.

 

 

After the soundcheck, we waited in the Legends Room at the arena for about 20 minutes before the band was ready for the meet and greet photoshoot.  Al Barr said he liked my t-shirt.

 



 

We then took the subway out near Fenway Park to McGreevy's which is owned by singer/bass player, Ken Casey.  The VIP folks had the bar to ourselves with free drinks and appetizers.  What are the odds we run into a couple from Mississippi who lived just south of Memphis within 10 minutes of where we used to live.  We stuck around for about an hour, and then took the subway back to the TD Garden for the show.

When we arrived at the Garden, Old Man Markley was just finishing up their set which is unfortunate because I wanted to see them.  We did get to see the Mahones and they did finish the set with my favorite tune of their's "Drunken Lazy Bastard".

Black 47 played next.  It was a snoozefest.  I was happy when it ended.

Then the Dropkick Murphys hit the stage and the place went nuts.  It was their first time playing TD Garden.  The security guards and police were a bit antsy.  They were throwing out all slamdancers and crowd surfers.  The band wasn't happy about it, but those were the rules.  After they mentioned it the second time to the audience, it seemed to slow down quite a bit.  The set list covered most of their catalog, and they played a lot of songs from their newest release Signed and Sealed in Blood.  They were also not permitted to allow the women on stage for "Kiss Me I'm Shitfaced" so Ken went into the crowd to sing it.

1.Cadence to Arms 
2.The Boys Are Back 
3.Burn 
4.Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya 
5.Prisoner's Song 
6.Fields of Athenry 
7.Homeward Bound 
8.Your Spirit's Alive 
9.Out On The Town 
10.Citizen C.I.A. 
11.Jimmy Collins' Wake 
12.Worker's Song (Acoustic)
13.The Battle Rages On 
14.The Dirty Glass (with Nora Parkington)
15.Going Out In Style 
16.My Hero 
17.Out of Our Heads 
18.The Warrior's Code 
19.Rose Tattoo 
20.The Irish Rover 
21.Barroom Hero 
22.I'm Shipping Up to Boston (played instrumental, crowd sang vocals)
Encore:
23.Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced 
24.T.N.T.(AC/DC cover)

After the show, we had to walk around the arena to go pick up our Dropkick Murphys engraved flask and a tour poster signed by all of the members of the band.

It was quite a long day, but very memorable.  I am glad we got the VIP package and we had a great time.  There are more pictures of our trip here.

 

 

 

Dropkick Murphys 2013 St Pat's Tickets

 

 

I bought our tickets to go see the Dropkick Murphys for 2013 St Pat's weekend in Boston.  We are going to the 3/15 and the 3/17 shows.  We are going to meet the band and hang out at McGreevy's before the show.

 

 

http://www.cidentertainment.com/home/dropkickmurphys.php

2012 Riot Fest

2012 Riot Fest, a set on Flickr.

For the 7th year in a row, I purchased an every day pass to attend Riot Fest. This pass is supposed to provide access to all events including after shows. IMO, in a complete bullshit move, they sold tickets to the after shows this year. Then, they granted these ticket holders access to the after show events with priority over every day pass holders. More on this later.

I arrived at the Inn of Chicago at about 3pm. This may be the least attractive hotel room that I have got by bidding on Priceline. I will be skipping the 2.5 star hotels from now on if someone else is sharing the room with me. After a brief nap, I decided to hit Reckless Records on Madison in the Loop. It was about a one mile walk which was fine as I like looking at the buildings in downtown Chicago from different angles and at different times of the day. I managed to walk away empty handed from there. The punk selection was very limited.

I stopped at the Elephant and Castle for a pint of Harp and some nachos and then took a taxi to the Congress Theater. I picked up my 3 day pass wristband and headed in. I arrived in time to miss Dead Sara as planned. I was able to grab a beer and up on stage came Pegboy. They played an energetic 30 minute set to a surprisingly already large crowd. Larry spent most of the time hanging on the barrier or on his knee on stage out of breath. The guy gives it more than his body can handle. I was dissapointed in the sound for them. Bass and drums too loud and guitar and vocals too low. I enjoyed the show but have seen them sound better. They skipped any song that Larry plays guitar on because they had a short set. They only played about 8-9 songs. Here is what I remember them playing.

Dangermare

Slipped Through My Fingers
Strong Reaction
Revolver (Mission of Burma cover)
Hardlight

I had a few more beers and a slice of Congress pizza in an effort to avoid Neon Trees. They were not my cup of tea. I can't believe they did a cover of "Mommy's Little Monster".

I was pretty excited to see The Offspring for the first time. The venue was pretty full by the time they hit the stage. They had a 3 guitar attack for most of their set. I enjoyed them, but had the same complaint about the sound as I did for the Pegboy set. I left at 10pm to head to the Subterranean for the Naked Raygun show. The Offspring were scheduled to play until 10:15pm. Here are some songs I remember them playing.

Come Out And Play

Days Go By
All I Want
Bad Habit
No Brakes

When I arrived at the Sub, the line was around the corner. I didn't think this was a good sign. Long story short, I was next in line to get into the venue when they quit letting more people in unless you purchased a ticket or were on the guest list as they had more than 400 people upstairs already. All I will say is this may be the last Riot Fest I attend due to the shenanigans of selling tickets for after shows after promoting admission to after shows to entice people to buy 3 day passes early to provide cash flow to fund the festival. Ever get the feeling you've been cheated!