The last two years have been hard on a lot of people for a lot of reasons. Lost jobs, lost loved ones, and weeks spent laid up sick. Losing live music seems like a pretty light burden to bear, but music is one of the main things that helps us deal with hard times. The return of live music is one of the things I was looking forward to most as the pandemic wanes. The last indoor concert I went to was Chris Knight in Oklahoma City way back in February of 2020. My first post-lockdown indoor concert was Dropkick Murphys with The Rumjacks opening (along with a couple other acts).
Celtic punk is the perfect music to get amped for St. Patty’s Day. The Rumjacks wrote A Fistful of Roses as a protest song in response to a crackdown on a bar district in Sydney. Indoor concerts are almost uniquely risky for passing airborne illnesses, but the song works pretty well as a protest against some of the more irrational COVID restrictions.
A Fistful of Roses is off The Rumjacks album Sleepin’ Rough.
Dropkick Murphys are the kings of celtic punk in a post-The Pogues era,[1] but even a week before St. Patty’s Day I need a little banjo in my life.
State of Massachusetts is off the Dropkick Murphys album The Meanest of Times.
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[1] A highlight of the show was Dropkick Murphys and the lead singer of The Rumjacks performing Body of an American by The Pogues.
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