'Dropkick Murphys' return with a full Irish punk festival
-
Dropkick Murphys
Share with others:
Back in the day, the Dropkick Murphys used to hold down a late-afternoon slot on the Warped Tour, somewhere around the Pennywise or Rancid set.
Having built a fanatic following of plaid-wearing punks and topping that off with the rage of Boston sports, the band graduated up, and this summer is out launching its own Shamrock-N-Roll Festival.
Arriving Monday, the day after the Pittsburgh Irish Festival, it features the punk band joined by Stiff Little Fingers, Street Dogs, Chuck Ragan, The Mahones, The Parkington Sisters and more on two alternating stages at the Trib Amiphitheatre. There also will be a boxing demonstration and autograph signing with "Irish" Micky Ward, portrayed by Mark Wahlberg in the movie "The Fighter."
With: Stiff Little Fingers, Street Dogs, Chuck Ragan, The Mahones, The Parkington Sisters.
Where: Trib Amphitheatre, Station Square.
When: 5:30 p.m. Monday.
Tickets: $32.50-$38; 1-800-745-3000.
The Murphys, who formed in 1996, are touring in support of their seventh album, "Going Out in Style," which debuted at No. 6, making it their highest chart debut. It's a concept album, based on their own experiences, focused on a character named Cornelius Larkin's journey as an Irish immigrant. Lending a hand are Fat Mike from NOFX, Chris Cheney (The Living End), actor-comedian Lenny Clarke and this guy Bruce Springsteen, whom the Murphys befriended in 2009.
Last week, founding member, singer and bassist Ken Casey filled us in on the details.
What made you guys put this festival together and what was your design?
After being a band for a while, you start to want to do something different for the fans, you wanna do something different for yourself. In this day and age, when things are tough, you just wanna give people more for their buck, you know. We have seven, eight bands on the bill, and it's a bigger operation, but there's ways to get around that. A lot of the bands are friends, it's a win-win. The audience gets a special day with the bands and we get to hang out. Should be a good time.
First Published September 8, 2011 12:00 am
