Review: Dropkick Murphys – “Live On Lansdowne, Boston MA”
The Dropkick Murphys already have a St. Patrick’s Day-themed album in their discography, 2005′s Live on St. Patrick’s Day, so on first glance this entry might appear redundant. Then again: they’ve been together since 1996, and that other record came out five years ago. Since then, one of their songs was in a Scorsese movie, and four St. Patrick’s Days have happen without live albums to commemorate them. In some ways, it’s more surprising that they haven’t done a St. Patrick’s Day album for every year they’ve been active. So “Hey, why the hell not?” turns out to be a good enough reason to justify double-dipping a bit. The band probably realizes the package might be a little silly on the surface, so they wisely don’t repeat themselves, except for the song “Forever,” and, well, the general aesthetic of their sound.
Almost all of these songs are hard-rocking Irish punk numbers, and in the end the Murphys don’t delve into too many themes. In fact, their approach can be summed up in exactly one word: BOSTONPUNKBEERIRISHBLUECOLLARREDSOXREDSOXBRUINS. So, the mileage of this album might depend on how close you live to Boston (I grew up one town over; I’ve heard this stuff in regular doses since teenhood), how Irish you are, or how much you love wearing green and drinking on a certain day every year. It also may depend on how long you can handle their sound; 20 songs is a lot by any band’s standards, especially one whose closest thing to a switch-up is adding a bagpipe or a guest singer. It’s all delivered with high energy and pummeling riffs. There’s lots of audience participation and probable moshing. The whole package is just so heartfelt it becomes enjoyable for what it is, you know?
So that’s the general approach that the Murphys take to their music. When it comes to the specifics of this album, the production is a bit more polished than their previous live effort. It’s a pretty good update to what they’re up to, and it includes “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” (that song from The Departed, here played with help from The Mighty Mighty Bosstones) and “Tessie,” both standouts in their repertoire. They don’t slow down except to shout out Boston sports teams, some New York police officers in the audience (but not the Yankees), and to play “Forever” and “Kiss Me, I’m Shitfaced.” Aside from that, it’s exactly the rough, hooky, boozy music you expect. Also, compared to their last live outing, they show some semblance of growth. Instead of totally bashing their instruments with the sheer energy of Irish punk righteousness, their fretwork shows some dexterity. That they have a legitimate hit in “Shipping” also makes it feel like there’s a little bit more of a pop appeal to their work, even if it’s incidental.
This album is highly recommended if you fit the demographic of the band’s audience. Still, I don’t fit in there (because I’m not Irish) and I enjoy it, too. I just can’t say how much it’d cross into my consciousness except around St. Patrick’s Day, on days where I’m speeding down the Mass Pike, or other days where I’m doing something similarly intense. There’s nothing wrong with that, either; this band has perfected their sound to the point where the hardest part is probably maintaining the energy to continually play these working class anthems. They just do something very, very specific, and fuck it if you’re not a part of it, that’s cool too. Anyway, the older Live on St. Patrick’s Day is still the definitive Dropkick Murphys album, with better pacing and more momentum. This one’s good and in no ways embarrassing. They do a great job of justifying its existence, which is more than you can say for many bands with multiple live albums. It’s just that at this point, it feels like a night of drinking long enough to turn into the hangover before you’re done.
Dropkick Murphys:
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Jere is not from Chicago. Nor is he from Parts Unknown. But he sure loves to hear things. Follow him on Twitter!Email this Author | All posts by Jere
[...] favorite drinking holiday (and also because we just favorably reviewed their brand new live disc), we thought we’d sure this festive live clip of Dropkick Murphys performing their smash hit [...]