Dropkick Murphys have toured a lot. Sorry, that’s vague for a decidedly Boston band that’s found fan bases in LA and Ireland, Australia and Eastern Europe. To be more specific: Dropkick Murphys have toured Lansdowne street a lot.
The now global band started at long-gone Kenmore Square club the Rat just a stone’s throw from Lansdowne. Then the Dropkicks dominated venues on the street: first Avalon, then the new House of Blues, and even Fenway Park. This year the Dropkicks continue the St. Patrick’s Week Lansdowne takedown with a return to the new MGM Music Hall for three shows plus one at the House of Blues.
“The St. Patrick’s Day run of shows started at Avalon and I remember when we did the final show at the club,” band leader Ken Casey told the Herald. “We made a t-shirt that had a wrecking ball on the front and it was like a tour shirt on the back with every show we had played at Avalon. And there were so, so many shows. Being a bit smaller of a cap, we would sometimes do seven shows in a week there.”
The band eventually outgrew even the House of Blues and its 2,600 capacity. For a while, Casey and crew got creative, augmenting the House of Blues shows with gig at Agganis Arena or Lowell’s Tsongas Arena.
“We did it out of necessity, and it was fun to experiment, fun to play in a city like Lowell where the mayor and chief of police show up,” Casey said. “But we like being back on Lansdowne.”
The St. Pat’s run always seems to represent the band’s past and present. Yes, MGM is huge (5,000 and change) but it’s a general admission venue — “I have to be able to see everyone (in the audience) so I know everyone can see me,” Casey said. The setlists will run from “Skinhead on the MBTA” to “The State of Massachusetts” to songs from their recent records built out of old Woody Guthrie lyrics and new Dropkicks music (refresher: “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” was written this way).
“We spend this whole (February and March) tour getting to the point where we can play almost our entire catalog by the time we get to Boston, which is, well, a lot of songs,” Casey said with a laugh. “We pride ourselves on the four different shows being completely different.”
Somehow the tradition has become for the fans to expect unexpected setlists. And the Dropkicks are all about honoring tradition.
From their punk rock elders to their protest music heroes, the Dropkicks feel a responsibility to carry the past into today. The Woody Guthrie LPs are perfect examples of this. One of the albums is named, “This Machine Still Kills Fascists,” after a slogan Woody emblazoned on his guitar. Not surprisingly, a band with punk and Celtic roots and anti-fascist, pro-union views had no problem finding connections to Woody’s old lyrics.
“Woody’s daughter Nora, who runs his archives, put this incredible trust in us and she gets almost spiritual about it (saying) ‘You have this kinship with what my father was all about,’” Casey said.
“And these songs seem to fit seamlessly into what we do,” Casey added, thinking of how the songs mix into the band’s setlists.
After the St. Pat’s run, the Dropkicks will tour a lot. Sorry, that’s vague again. The band will go to Europe once again and spread the gospel of punk and protest once again, connecting Woody Guthrie to Joe Strummer, Irish folk to Stiff Little Fingers.
For tickets and details, visit dropkickmurphys.com
