Australian Punk-Folk band The Rumjacks were the first band of the evening I managed to catch. They were the perfect band to open for the Dropkick Murphys, paying homage to their iconic celtic folk sound, whilst adding their own twist to this formula. Vocalist Mike Rivkees offered gnarly punk vocals in between providing backing pennywhistle performances to add that folk element to the pretty basic, yet by no means weak punk that was being played behind him. They had a truly special song in the form of ‘Fistful of Roses’ and every single person, whether they knew the band or not, was dancing along as soon as they knew what was going on. The chorus of this song was absolutely genius, it was both anthemic and incredibly simple to follow, and by the final rendition of the chorus, the whole building was singing along. They were received like headliners during this particular song. Towards the end of the set however, it became somewhat formulaic. The songs followed the simple structure of verse, chorus, pennywhistle, verse, chorus and never quite hit the highs of ‘Fistful of Roses’. Despite this, The Rumjacks were absolutely fantastic for the most part, and have now found their way into my own personal playlist.

The Rumjacks at the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester on Janua

The night takes a bit of a left turn for the second band, swapping out Penny whistles for Pennywise. Initially Dropkick Murphys had The Interrupters billed in their special guest slot, however after embarking on a UK tour of their own (a review of which can be found here), they were swapped out for Californian Punk band, Pennywise. I am both a huge lover of punk and of Pennywise, however I couldn’t help but think their ferocious blend of politically conscious Skate Punk and Hardcore was a bit out of place for what the crowd of a Dropkick Murphys show were expecting, especially if there were people who had initially came for The Interrupters infectious blend of Ska Punk and instead got hardcore. That’s not to say the crowd weren’t receptive to the band. The first couple of rows especially were clearly devout followers and I wouldn’t be surprised if Pennywise’s own merit was enough for some people to purchase a ticket irrespective of who the night’s headliners were. The same can’t be said, however, for the rest of the audience in attendance. Whereas The Rumjacks had the natural ability to captivate large pockets of the 3500 strong crowd, those outside the initial 5-10 rows were more content to just head to the bar or engage in conversation while the band was doing their thing.

Musically, the band were on top form. Their aforementioned style of raw, unfilitered political skate punk was just as relevant and as raw as it would’ve been upon the initial release and a true pioneers for the claim that “if it aint broke don’t fix it” method of songwriting. Covering themes such as positive mental attitude, disenfranchisement, the political system and the power of unity, it is easy to see why Pennywise would have assumed to have been a strong pick to warm the crowd up before Dropkick Murphys. Vocalist Jim Lindberg was an energetic tour de force pouring heartfelt emotion and authenticity with hints of absolute aggression in his vocal performance. Whilst on the night the band themselves were fine, I found that this performance, if played in front of a small venue full of Pennywise die hards, they would’ve been absolutely incredible, however they had a hard crowd to please for the most part and it instead felt a bit lost in the large Victoria warehouse.

Pennywise at the O2 Victoria Warehouse in Manchester on January

After postponing their tour numerous times as well as making adjustments to the bill, it was only right that Dropkick Murphys opted to get the show started with ‘The Boys Are Back’ and they were right, the boys were well and truly back. From the barrier to the bar at the back of the Victoria Warehouse, not a single person in the room was stood still as vocalist Ken Casey acted as conductor for the masses during the bands many singalongs of the night. With the absence of vocalist Al Barr from this particular tour, Kasey was promoted from the role of Bassist and Vocalist to primary vocalist. Despite having huge shoes to fill, Kasey was an absolute natural, spending a vast majority of the time on the barricade fist bumping as many people as he possibly could and showing that he is a true man of the people.

Since they last came to these shores, the Dropkick Murphys released two albums, 2021’s “Turn Up That Dial” and 2022’s “This Machine Still Kills Fascists”. The band were still keen to ensure these albums were still promoted, with 11 of the 24 songs performed in the evening being from these two bodies of work. Luckily these two albums are albums of top notch quality and most of the songs went down incredibly well. I didn’t care all that much for ‘Two 6’s Upside Down’ or ‘Cadillac, Cadillac’, especially seeing as the former’s slow tempo killed off the high octane start however there were some truly outstanding performances from these two albums including my personal highlight of the night, ‘Turn Up That Dial’. This song is an absolute masterclass in anthemic backing vocals, of which the crowd were the unofficial 7th member of the band for. Outside of their two latest albums the band made sure all of the usual favourites were covered with raucous performances of ‘Rose Tattoo’, ‘Going Out In Style’, and of course their most recognisable track, ‘I’m Shipping Up To Boston’.

The were some limitations to the band's sound as a result of the venue, however. The Victoria Warehouse is essentially and old brick warehouse, and whilst the reminders of Manchester's deep industrial heritage is actually quite fitting to the message the band were trying to convey, it did however present its own set of problems when it comes to the sound. The iconic sound of the Dropkick Murphys relies on its use of traditional celtic instruments. Penny Whistles, Bagpipes and Accordions were all used throughout the band’s 100-minute set, however it was incredibly hard to pick out their intricate, nuanced sound in the mix as a result of the venue’s less than accommodating sound quality. The sound just seemed to escape through the cracks of the early 20th century exposed brickwork, as opposed to bounce of the walls back into the center of the venue and it lessened the impact of songs that relied heavily on this array of instruments.

For me, the most important and awe-inspiring thing that Dropkick Murphys brought to the table tonight was a sense of incredibly authentic community spirit. They make no secrets that they are a band that are fueled by the fight against political inequalities and oppression and unfortunately, the songs they write to convey this message are just as relevant now as they were 20 years ago when they were first written. It is often cliché now that concerts are a place in which people can forget about the atrocities of the outside world for a few hours however tonight was not about forgetting what was happening outside, it was instead about coming together to fight it instead. They dedicated songs to the incredibly resilient and passionate strikers standing their ground on picket lines across the country, changed the lyrics of their song ‘All You Fonies’ to ‘All You Tories’ and performed an incredible version of ‘Worker’s Song’ alongside The Rumjacks vocalist Mike Rivkees. All too often you hear people say, “i don’t like it when music and politics mix, I like to keep them separately”, and it's evident that Dropkick Murphys didn’t give a fuck about this, and neither should we. Music has long been a vessel for protest and it has never been more important to understand this than it is now.