Samantha Johnson
Music 307 M. W. at 11:30am
Live Performance
I attended a Dropkick Murphys concert at the Grove in Anaheim. Four bands played before Dropkick Murphys played, and the intensity of the crowd grew with each passing band. All the bands there had a distinct and modern punk style as indicated by their raw and intense sound and fast rhythms. I found it strange that all the opening bands were more of a traditional punk sound when compared to the main band; the Dropkick Murphys sounded less raw than the other bands. While the other bands were very straight forward about their political beliefs and what they thought the white house should or should not do, the Dropkick Murphys’ songs were more so focused on violence, alcohol, friendship, loyalty, and women; not about what is going on in the white house.
Al Barr, the lead singer of the Dropkick Murphys, made a comment at the beginning of their performance indicating that they were influenced by the band that played right before they played: Youth Brigade. Youth Brigade had a more intense, raw, and traditional punk sound when compared to that of Dropkick Murphys. I think the latter band’s slightly softer sound has to do with the traditional Celtic melodies they use in their music; when listening to their songs you can hear beautiful melodic phrases beneath the loud, roaring voices. It sounded to me as though their raw, powerful, hoarse (yelling on key) vocals were influenced by metal. Just before the Dropkick Murphys came out on stage, the lights dimmed and a beautiful Celtic song started to fill the room. The entire song was played before the band even came out on stage. Once the Celtic song started to fade, the band started to play and sing while making their way onto the stage; the fact that they not only played the Celtic song, but let it play in its entirety displays their respect and interest in traditional Celtic music.
As previously indicated, this band is not very straight forward about...