Dropkick Murphys @ Copenhell 2024
I dare you to not have a blast
It's unfair, really. I mean, booking a band like Dropkick Murphys at any festival.
Because you just know that in comparison, everyone else is gonna look like they're just phoning it in.
Apart from maybe their strikingly similar folk-punk colleagues in Flogging Molly, I'd like to see one band that can get a similar party going. Sure, Slipknot notoriously and predictably wipes the floor with any and every one of their show attendees. Hell, you might argue that Dropkick Murphys is the Slipknot of folk-punk. (Or is Slipknot the Dropkick Murphys of nu-metal? Remains to be settled.)
But this is a different beast of a party. Because not everyone is in on it from the beginning. Especially not back here behind the barrier where we're standing for some weird reason.
But as sure of a law of nature as love, death, gravity, and Saxon, the Murphys end up triumphing as victoriously as one can only imagine is possible given their lowbrow, Irish-style mixture of mandolin, accordion, piccolo flutes, bagpipes, and banjo on one hand, and up-tempo, no-shits-given party punk on the other.
You could go to a Murphys show and not know any one song, and you'd still be more entertained than at the vast majority of shows you'll ever see in your life. To be honest, of course, their songs do tend to sound a lot alike.
The relatively limited nature of folk-punk doesn't allow for a lot of variation. But I also am suspecting the Murphys of speculating a bit in writing songs according to the template of that "I'm Shipping Up to Boston" that you just know is gonna conclude the set.
The Dropkick Murphys are an impeccable, veritable, and 100% reliable party starter. Mark my words: It is impossible for me to stand still right now.
However, and to be fair, some songs do stand out. Hear "Rose Tattoo" once, for example, and you'll be able to recall it for the rest of your life, and you'll be singing along instantly. In fact, exactly this seems to be happening with some of the good people around me right now. Also "Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya", partly based on a traditional shanty, sees us singing along with the wonderfully pirate-y "harrooo, harrooo".
Newer tunes "Smash Shit Up" and "Good as Gold" also work. But it's a moot point, really. Because this whole band just plain works. Not one weak link by far. The Dropkick Murphys are an impeccable, veritable, and 100% reliable party starter. Mark my words: It is impossible for me to stand still right now.
From where I'm not standing still right now, then, it looks like complete fucking mayhem inside aforementioned barrier. I'm trying to count the number of people crowdsurfing simultaneously at one point, but I have to give up.
And sure enough, the party dissipates throughout the entire crowd, the rest of us back here eventually circle dancing as well. Shit, you'd have to be the most boring person alive and/or a paraplegic not to.
Yesterday, Pretty Maids delivered the Copenhell 2024 show of the year. Today, they have just been demoted to second place on that ranking.
Again: It's just unfair, really. But not in a bad way by any stretch.
Rating: 5 out of 6
Genre: Folk-punk
Venue: Copenhell, Helvíti stage
Date: Fri., June 21st, 2024
Setlist:
- The Lonesome Boatman (The Fureys cover)
- The Boys Are Back
- Smash Shit Up
- Good as Gold
- Climbing a Chair to Bed
- Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya
- Out of Our Heads
- Road of the Righteous
- Bastards on Parade
- Captain Kelly's Kitchen
- The State of Massachusetts
- Worker's Song
- The Hardest Mile
- You'll Never Walk Alone (Rodgers & Hammerstein cover)
- Rose Tattoo
- Skinhead on the MBTA
- The Irish Rover (Joseph M. Crofts cover)
- Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced
- I'm Shipping Up to Boston