Dropkick Murphy’s / Flogging Molly – The Armory – Minneapolis MN – June 8th 2018

Dropkick Murphys and Flogging Molly joined forces with their Irish heritages and Celtic rock/folk music influences, “A Tour 20 Years In The Making”. Which is definitely a historic tour with both these bands co-headlining.

Jake Burns of Stiff Little Fingers is also along for this epic tour. Burns started off his career with a rock cover band, Highway Star. This helped him gain members for a punk band, Stiff Little Fingers, formed in 1977, in which Burns is essentially known for. After a 5-year breakup of Stiff Little Fingers, Jake Burns formed Jake Burns and the Big Wheel. Burns’ solo album, “Drinkin’ Again”, was released in March of 2006. The album is looked at being folksier than his normal punk rock SLF sound. However, still gained a lot of listens and purchases from fans of Jake and SLF.

Flogging Molly is a seven-piece Irish/Celtic rock band from Los Angeles California. In which they have been rocking their sound since 1997. Dave King, one of the founding members of Flogging Molly wanted to create a rock band with traditional Irish instruments. As of December 2006 the band has sold more than a million and a half copies of recorded productions. Alternative Press magazine has called their, “Complete Control Sessions”, “One of the most important CDs of the year, if not the decade”. This also landed Flogging Molly at #4 on the Billboard Top 200 Chart. Their latest album, “Life Is Good”, released in 2017, is more socially and politically prominent than previous records. After being around for a little more than 20 years they still rock as hard and the day they started. Entertainment, Irish instruments, awesome stage presence, and great songs/lyrics all mixed together to create one hell of a good show.

Dropkick Murphys have also been around for 20+ years, formed in 1996 in Quincy, Massachusetts. In which they are also still as entertaining and kick-ass as they have been from the beginning. Dropkick also has an American Celtic sound to them. Dropkick Murphys got their first big break by going on tour and opening up for The Mighty Bosstones in 1997. They have covered the song “The Wild Rover”, a Boston College fight song, which has became one the band’s most performed show openers. “I’m Shipping Up To Boston”, featured off “The Warrior’s Code”, has been Platinum-selling and is one of their best-known songs, thanks to the movie The Departed. This gained the band an even bigger mainstream audience. Dropkick’s album, “The Meanest of Times”, which was their highest album release at the time, debuted at #20. “The State of Massachusetts”, reached #83 on the Rolling Stone top 100 songs of 2007, was also the theme song to Nitro Circus. “Going Out in Style”, their seventh studio album was debuted at #6 on the Billboard 200, making it the highest position every for any of their albums, it sold over 43,200 copies in the U.S. alone. Dropkick has also named Stiff Little Fingers one of their musical style influences. Dropkick Murphys put on a show that you will not want to miss and will want to see them over and over again. The band’s main goal is to play music that creates an “all for one, one for all environment were everyone is encouraged to participate, sing along, and hopefully have a good time”. If you have ever been to a Dropkick show you would see that this goal is definitely achievable as they are great at stage performance and create an amazing energetic feel.

Review and photos by Kaila Turck