Dropkick Murphys’ St. Patrick’s Day Tour 2024 brought St. Patrick’s Day to St. Louis/The Factory in Chesterfield a little early this year. The lineup on this boisterous Monday night included Dropkick Murphys, Pennywise, and The Scratch.
The surging anticipation from the fans who ranged in age from youngsters to Gen X finally crescendoed the moment headliner DKM bound onto the parquet floor amid hazy bright white lights that engulfed the stage. Without further ado, the Celtic-punk rock band from Boston launched straight into the rousing “For Boston.” A special build-out allowed lead vocalist, Ken Casey and other members to walk out from center stage and practically into the audience creating a frenzy among fans all night.
With a twinkle in his eye, Casey continually engaged the rambunctious crowd, at one point even tossing his mic to a fan, amping up the energy even higher. He did break at one point saying he heard there was a birthday in the house, (opener Pennywise had earlier sung “Happy Birthday” to the two people celebrating) and joked when finding out one had just turned age 9. “They are the only hope for our future. That’s job security for us right there.”
The band then launched into “Curse of a Fallen Soul” followed by “Road of the Righteous,” “a couple of oldies,” according to Casey.
At the onset, a large swirling eddy of moshers broke out toward the back of the floor and continued to ebb and flow throughout their 100-plus minute set.
The aforementioned California-based punk rockers who’ve been around for a minute, Pennywise took the middle slot of the night and unfurled 45 minutes of nonstop, unbridled, high-energy surf and classic punk rock full of heavy bass and driving drums. They took the classic 1962 “Stand By Me,” and began with a straight cover until they turned it upside down. They also mashed up or melded The Ramones’ “Blitzkrieg Bop” and Beastie Boys’ “Fight for Your Right” in between their own hardcore songs such as “Fuck Authority” and “Live While You Can.”
Dublin-based The Scratch, the youngest of the three bands, opened the night with 30 minutes of, according to them, “acoustic rock music that sounds like a pint of guinness [sic] to the ears.” They wowed the crowd with their high-energy, rousing, raucous, toe-tapping, sound that incorporates acoustic riffs and soaring melodies in a cross-over between traditional and hard-core Irish rock and everything in between.
After a knockout night of 3 hours of an intense mixture of blended rock and punk, fans left the Chesterfield venue spent but in high spirits and feeling fortunate with a little luck o’ the Irish on their sides.
All photos from the concert https://bit.ly/DKM24cz
DKM setlist https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/dropkick-murphys/2024/the-factory-chesterfield-mo-4bad2736.html
Pennywise setlist https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/pennywise/2024/the-factory-chesterfield-mo-53ad2735.html
In my work life, I help nonprofits and small businesses with media and public relations. In my what I love to do life, you can typically find me photographing either wild horses or concerts.
