Flogging Molly
Live Shots
Reviewed by Margaret Moser, Fri., March 6, 2009
Flogging Molly
Stubb's, Feb. 28"No Crowd Surfing, No Moshing" read the signs stapled to Stubb's. Yeah, right – tell that to the bubbling cauldron below Dublin's Dave King as he conducted his band of Yanks with plenty of Guinness. Every few minutes, the pit coughed another body into the air, thick with newfound Irishness from hordes already whipped up by opening act the Aggrolites, funky ska boys pumping out dirty reggae. With new disc Float to promote, Flogging Molly landed chestnuts like "The Kilburn High Road" among newer fare "Us of Lesser Gods." King dominates the Mollys with Celtic muscle, a quick tongue, and constant dialogue with the sold-out crowd, some of whom braved unexpectedly frigid weather in kilts just to sing "'cause we find ourselves in the same old mess/singing drunken lullabies." Flogging Molly isn't the Pogues, but neither does the band demonstrate the hooligan mentality of Dropkick Murphys. They're somewhere in between and hold the position grandly with deep sentiments "The Worst Day Since Yesterday" and "The Sun Never Shines on Closed Doors," a reminder that Irish tradition is to celebrate every human condition with a song. And Guinness.