The Massachusetts bred punk icons, Dropkick Murphys started the Irish celebration early in Texas with their St. Patrick’s Day tour – hitting Austin’s very own ACL Live. The Austin date was the final stop on the Texas takeover portion of the tour, and fans of all generations piled in to jump in the pit with the legends themselves.
In today’s political climate, it is entirely necessary and encouraged to stand up for what you believe in and let your voice be heard. And one of the best, and most enjoyable ways to do this, is to head to a punk show and let your frustrations out in the pit amongst like minded friends. This is the kind of positive, anti-autharitarian messaging the Dropkick Murphys have been promoting at their shows since their beginning all the way back in 1996 and over the years against different administrations, but now so more than ever.
Through the decades and many lineup changes, the Dropkick Murphys have been consistent in being a rowdy bunch of punks giving the finger to the man and being unapologetically loud and proud of their Irish-Bostonian heritage. The band has always stood for the working class everyday person and as they celebrate the band’s 30th anniversary they also celebrate their latest album release appropriately titled For The People. And although they could’ve done this tour entirely on their own and basked in the success that they’ve made, they stuck to their guns and brought a killer lineup of bands with them on stage to share the love with everyone.
The first band of the night was an up and coming hardcore band from the Bay Area, Slugger. The Bay has been a pool of incredible talent in the punk scene since the early 80s and Slugger is no exception to that. With an old school sound and aggression of traditional hardcore music from the early 90s, Slugger brought the rage with songs full of heavy riffs and clear messaging.
Slugger was young, hungry, angry and ready to show the crowd of punk veterans that they don’t back down especially not to fascist, bigots, or anyone down with repression. The Bay had something to say and the crowd ate it up as they tore through 30 minutes of heavy mosh music.
Next on the lineup were fellow Boston punk rockers Haywire, who had recently dropped a collaboration EP with the godfathers, DKM. Haywire’s set began with a tongue and cheek rendition of Sweet Caroline, which then immediately went into a fast paced guitar riff, throwing them into their first song of the night. There were many layers to this band if you payed attention to the lyrics and subject matter of each song. While the band did have typical punk and anti-establishment or just generally aggressive subject matter to certain songs, they also had more intimate songs about relationships and heartbreak mixed in as well.
The frontman, Austin, who was also rocking an Austin FC jersey, became increasingly more personable with the crowd as he talked in between songs about his love for the punk scene and his journey through sobriety. About halfway through the set, The band was joined on stage by Dropkick Murphys frontman Ken Casey to perform a song off their newly released collaboration album just to give an audience a taste of the rest of the evening.
As for the last opening act of the evening, the audience was met with a nice genre shift as the self described dirty reggae band, The Aggrolites, hit the stage. The Socal reggae powerhouses brought some fun positivity into the venue with upbeat groovy sounds. Ska/Reggae has a history of been influenced by, and influencing, the punk scene, most notably with bands like Sublime, so it was refreshing to see that DKM had the insight to include a band like that on the line-up.
As the band danced and skanked across the stage, the set moved between originals and covers such as Too Good To Be True. The Aggrolites set also included a fun surprise when the frontman from Slugger jumped on stage to perform with the band as well.
After the third act the anticipation set in. Fans young and old awaited DKM as they dawned the merch, waved the Irish and DKM banners and even some long-time fans flaunted their black rose and other iconic DKM associated tattoos. The lights shut down and the crowd erupted. Ken and the boys hit the stage, opening the show with their signature anthems The Boys Are Back and The State of Massachusetts.
The State of MA is a great representation of the band, which shows their use of traditional Irish instruments like the bagpipes and banjo, and also incorporates the traditional Irish folk sound with the heavy hitting guitar riffs, a mixture in sound that has become a signature of DKM over the years. The group played an array of their catalog from the singles for the casuals, to the deep cuts off their early albums.
For 30 years Ken has been making his mark in punk with DKM and remains to be the phenomenal frontman that he started as but he was also not afraid to show the other side of himself on stage that night as the family man when he brought his wife and youngest daughter on stage to perform Dirty Glass. The multifaceted group needs a multifaceted leader and as long as Ken is still kicking so are the Dropkick Murphys as the band continues to their three decade long ass kicking journey.
I’m a photographer currently based in Austin after recently relocating from Denver, CO. I graduated from the University of Colorado, Denver in 2019 with a degree in Business Management. I love music of all genres and have been going to live shows since I was 5 years old. Some of my favorite artist currently include Freddie Gibbs, Lola Young, Ivy Lab and Knocked Loose, but that is always subject to change.
