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A sellout crowd of 2,800 in the University of Maine Field House was welcomed to a musical landscape somewhere between Boston and Dublin last Thursday night.
“We’re trying extra hard not to suck,” said Dropkick Murphys bassist and vocalist Ken Casey, “on your behalf.”
After an opening batch of songs from tight-yet-generic Angel City Outcasts – their shining moment, a peppy rendition of Tom Petty’s “American Girl” – the Irish-American punk act headlined the first show of their fall tour. The standard pieces of a rock group – drums, guitars and the like – were accompanied by eclectic additions including a bagpipe, mandolin, banjo and accordion to keep the 20-plus song set list bouncing with Irish swagger.
Dropkick favored large chunks of their latest release, “The Meanest of Times,” and injected a noticeable amount of oomph into the show with “The State of Massachusetts” early in the night. Other selections included “The Chosen Few,” “Worker’s Song,” and Dropkick-ified Emerald Isle classics “The Fields of Athenry” and “Flannigan’s Ball.”
Barring exhausting waits in the drizzle as the line of fans wrapped entirely around the football field due to a ticket scanning malfunction, the show was a tremendous success. The sound was clear and, although a bit bass-heavy, the instrumentation and lyrics were all distinguishable.
Many tunes played out like winding tales, complete with characters, folly and triumph.
“We’re still the only bar band that’s touring in a jet,” went a lyric in “The Chosen Few” – a basic truth based on the band’s performance. The Dropkick Murphys rocked with a humble energy many bands their junior would envy to duplicate, keeping the show intimate and electric.
Nearing the end of the set, dozens of UMaine females took the stage for “Kiss Me, I’m S—faced,” singing and jigging along. Casey, who tended to front the band more so than lead vocalist Al Barr, wryly informed the audience: “Here’s a song about drinking – even though we don’t condone it for you underage college students.”
“Shipping Up to Boston,” famous for its ties with the Boston Red Sox and the 2007 Oscar-winning film “The Departed,” kicked off the encore and ignited a surge of excitement from the crowd. Shortly after, the stage was mobbed again, this time with co-ed students in nearly double the number.
Without the currently defunct Maine Center for the Arts or the pricey Alfond Arena to utilize, Student Entertainment succeeded in transforming the Field House into a professional venue. They will aim for a repeat on Monday, Nov. 17 with O.A.R.
