Stephen and I saw Flogging Molly in concert last Tuesday night.
It was amazing, nay…it was EPIC.
The tickets were a birthday gift from my parents; the show was at the House of Blues in Boston, right across the street from Fenway Park. For standing room only, we even managed to get a pretty perfect spot, right against the rails of the balcony, directly across from the stage. No one in front of us and, more importantly, no chance of being hit by splashes of beer and lord-only-knows-what else.
The doors opened at 7 o’clock. The first opening act came on a little after 8. They didn’t introduce themselves, didn’t have any vocalists, and weren’t on the bill, leaving us to wonder: who are these guys and why are they so awesome? It was the kind of music that you don’t just listen to, but you experience. We really liked them and were definitely feeling pumped for the show. The whole audience was pumped (and, I’m sure, starting to feel a happy beer buzz). Johnny Cash came on during the interlude between sets, and everyone joined in the chorus, complete with dance moves. I fell into a burning ring of fire. I went down, down, down, and the flames went higher.
It took the crew about thirty minutes to clear the stage and set up the various speakers and mics. And then the second opening act came on. At this point, it was well past 9 o’clock, we had been standing for over two hours, and were admittedly a little ancy. This band was…how to put it nicely? They knew one song and they played it fifteen different ways. They even managed to make a Beatles song sound like one of their own, and not in a good way. When it takes me a minute to figure out where else I’ve heard the lyrics “Don’t let me down”, you know it’s bad. The Beatles are up there with Dave Matthews Band and Flogging Molly as my top three favorite bands. Flogging Molly, who I was at this point, rather anxious to see.
And they tried, they really did try, to get the crowd motivated. There was a group of people who formed not so much a most pit but a mosh pocket right in the center of the crowd. It would last for a few minutes, then die out. They’d start it back up, but after a little bit, it would die out again. And repeat.
Of course, when Flogging Molly finally did take the stage at 10 o’clock, the floor exploded. It was like looking down on an ocean of bath toys. People started moving and they didn’t stop, just slowed down a bit to sway and wave lighters during the mellower songs. Because Flogging Molly, aside from being absolutely fantastic musicians, also know how to work the crowd (and the beer flowing like water probably helped some).
They played new songs, old songs, never-performed-live songs. They played for a solid hour and a half, plus a rousing encore, and it was incredible, beginning to end. It made up for being on our feet for over four hours, and for not getting home until almost 2 a.m. My sleep patterns still haven’t recovered. But it was so, so, so worth it.
