The night was scorching hot under the setting sun on the black pavement outside at Pop’s Concert Venue. And it wasn’t because of the weather (which was unseasonably delightful). Dropkick Murphys along with Rancid and supporting band The Bronx blasted varying degrees of solid punk rock at volume 11 for nearly 3-hours. St. Louis — via Sauget, IL — was the fifth stop on this 34-city nine-week Boston to Berkeley II U.S. tour.
By the time Dropkick Murphys started their set at 9:45 under the half-moon, the packed crowd was primed for 70-minutes of good old punk with heavy Celtic ties and some straight-up rock ’n’ roll undertones tossed in for good measure.
They appropriately started the night with their 2013 jaunty, rambunctious, “The Boys are Back.”
Large strobe lights flashed throughout their performance with Ken Casey and Al Barr working the stage and the crowd.
At one point, Casey joked with the riled-up fans as many shouted out about St. Louis Blues hockey and the Stanley Cup, “It’s great to be back in the greater St. Louis area … Ahh, the Blues? Yeah, yeah get over it.”
Other fan-favorites included “L-EE-B-O-Y,” “Queen of Suffolk County,” and “Smash Shit Up.”
Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick Murphys
Dropkick Murphys
See more photos from the night: https://bit.ly/DropkickRancid21cz
It only makes sense that Berkeley’s Rancid and Boston’s Dropkick Murphys tour together (this is their second official time) since Rancid’s Tim Armstrong’s label Hellcat Records signed Dropkick Murphys in 1997.
The wee-bit more seasoned Rancid took the middle slot this night performing a full hour of nonstop hard-edged punk with a little ska sprinkled in for good measure on a majority of songs. The band rarely needed to look at one another for cues as they’ve been performing together for what seems like forever. Grizzled with a full, dreadlocked beard, Armstrong was the more animated between him, the stylized Lars Frederiksen, and Matt Freeman who was set back nearly in the shadows.
1995 classic “Olympia WA” had the entire audience singing along as did “Time Bomb” which Armstrong shared was the “song that pretty much kicked off our entire lives.”
Other songs of theirs included “Roots Radicals,” “Maxwell Murder,” and “East Bay Night.” They ended on the popular “Ruby Soho.”
Rancid
Rancid
Rancid
The new kids on the block (at least with this lineup), L.A.’s The Bronx kicked off the moshing and crowd surfing-infused night with 45-minutes of edgy punk rock. Garbed in a Kiss t-shirt, Pantera hat, and thankfully stretchy green pants, lead singer Matt Caughthran was full of grins throughout the majority of their set and told the crowd he wished he could be down there with them [in the mosh pit]. Their set included, “Sore Throat,” “Shitty Future,” and “Heart Attack American.”
See more photos from the night: https://bit.ly/DropkickRancid21cz
The Bronx
The Bronx
