By Mike Fordham
Outwardly, having a punk band play at a dance club would not work. However, with a closer inspection, this scenario does gel together. The band in question is Irish punkers Flogging Molly, who made a stop in New York City at the club Spirit in early March (Interestingly, Spirit has just begun staging rock concerts, already hosting the likes of Chevelle, Danzig, and Atreyu). To put this all into perspective-an Irish band whose live shows cause some frenzied dancing, St. Patrick’s Day is right around the corner and this all takes place at a dance club? Perhaps the situation is not as crazy as it seems.
The Riverboat Gamblers and Hot Water Music opened the evening’s festivities. The Texas-based Gamblers specialized in cocksure, straight-up punk rock, the kind one might hear from the genre’s nascent stage. It was virtually impossible to distinguish any song from another, as the tunes sounded very similar. Since the Gamblers rarely paused, it made for one raucous yet undecipherable listen (the muddy mixing did not help matters). The group lacked any danger or excitement, save for vocalist Teko’s numerous jaunts through the audience.
Hot Water Music was touring behind their latest effort for Epitaph Records, The New What Next. The quartet blasted through their set, barely stopping for breath. Their brand of high-octane punk-fueled rock was serviceable-not excellent, but not sub par, either. The dual vocals of Chuck Ragan and Chris Wollard provided a curious dynamic to the performance.
From the get-go, it was obvious that Flogging Molly frontman Dave King was suffering from some sort of illness. His voice didn’t have its usual energy, and King struggled all night to hit high notes. Still, what he lacked in voice, King made up for with passionate playing. During “Black Friday Rule,” King high-stepped around the stage and even threw in some lyrics from the Rolling Stones’ NYC-themed “Shattered.” The song also found King disparaging football and talking about the city of Boston (word to the wise-don’t mention Boston if you don’t want a New York City crowd to turn on you).
The troupe flew through material from their latest album, Within A Mile Of Home, including the frenzied “Seven Deadly Sins,” “Tobacco Island” and “Screaming At The Wailing Wall.” Despite the album being released late last year, Flogging Molly has become comfortable with their new material. Songs like “Light Of A Fading Star” and “The Wrong Company” sounded like old standards rather than new favorites.
The seven-piece group brought out live standards like “Selfish Man,” “Rebels Of The Sacred Heart,” and “Salty Dog.” The ridiculously over packed crowd shouted along to every lyric from tunes from Flogging Molly’s first two albums, Swagger and Drunken Lullabies.
The band performs at their peak in a small club, such as Spirit. The energy and zeal was evident from every member of Flogging Molly, and was quite visible. Compared to their show last year at NYC’s Roseland Ballroom (which King made several mentions of), it was night and day. Even with a rough audio mix, Flogging Molly’s brew of bone-breaking punk and Irish flavor won over the audience. It’s unfair to call the group a gimmick (especially considering the popularity of colleagues the Dropkick Murphys and Black 47) since Flogging Molly expertly weaves in their influences while retaining an original sensibility. Who else but Dave King could snarl his way through “The Likes Of You Again” and then begin the encore with the acoustic “By The Grace of God Go I”?
For the entire length of Flogging Molly’s set, the crowd bounced along, moshing and dancing simultaneously. The mayhem rarely let up. With a toe-tapper like “Devil’s Dance Floor,” it was impossible not to groove along as flutes and violins ebbed in and out. Imagine that-people going crazy at a dance club for a punk band.
Flogging Molly recently played at Spirit, a dance club in New York City. (Image courtesy www.floggingmolly.com)