Words: Miljan Milekić
Older people like to say that nothing in life is certain, except for death and taxes. And while the latter one may be questionable if you are a billionaire or a politician, a few other things get close to that level of certainty. One of them – Dropkick Murphys shows are fun! This was the third time we had the chance to catch the band but with a lot of firsts – the first time since the pandemic, the first time in Canada, the first time on North American soil, the first time without Al Barr, and with Ken Casey as the main vocalist.
It didn’t take long for the band to get the party started. As soon as they walked on the stage to the last bars of ‘Foggy Dew,’ coming from the PA, and kicked off with ‘The Lonesome Boatman’ the first rows of the SaskTel Centre went wild. The seamless transition to ‘The Boys Are Back’ quickly activated the rest of the crowd before the band fired off ‘The State of Massachusetts’ and ‘Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya.’ After a strong opening like this, it felt like the band could switch to autopilot for the rest of the show if they wanted to, or even knew how. Twenty/eight years into their career, Murhys seem to still enjoying every second they get to spend on any stage across the world, and their fans seem to be able to recognize that.
“Saskatoon, you drunken bastards,” Casey laughed from the stage, quite accurately assessing the situation in front of him, before quickly adding – “And I say this with affection and love!” Given the fact that at one point he ended up holding the microphone in one hand, and two prosthetic legs from the crowdsurfing fan in the other, nobody could argue with his statement. Crowdsurfig seemed to be omnipresent during their whole set and on more than one occasion he took a moment to thank the security for doing an amazing job in keeping everyone safe.
As their set was nearing the end, the atmosphere was getting crazier, with special credit going to guys from the local rugby team, all in wearing the same read jerseys, being responsible for the biggest mosh pits, and “about 40% of ticket sales” as Casey would joke. With such an extensive catalog under their belts, the band had successfully kept the tension throughout the set, but once they fired off ‘Barroom Hero’ it felt like everyone got the queue to go summon the last bits of energy they had left in them. ‘The Rose Tatoo’ kicked in next accompanied by a light display courtesy of a massive disco ball hanging from the ceiling, and followed by the legendary ‘Irish Rover,’ and energetic ‘Going Out in Style.’
‘Kiss Me, I’m Shitfaced’ seems to be one of those feel-good songs that can make everyone smile, so it wasn’t really a surprise Muprhys decided to leave it for the very end of the set, or at least the main part of the set before they shortly left the stage. Once they returned, however, it was time for complete mayhem in the form of ‘I’m Shipping Up to Boston,’ the song I love, and as a Leafs fan feel slightly traumatized by, and the traditional show closure in the form of ‘Worker’s Song.’
It wasn’t however just the Murphys that hit the stage on the night, as the opening slot was given to Irish band The Scratch and their blend of traditional Celtic music and punk rock. Due to the early start, we only managed to catch the back end of their set, but even that was the case it was easy to hear why Murphys chose them for this tour. We did however get to see Pennywise who kicked in next. Despite loving a band for years, somehow this was my first time hearing them live.
From the get-go, the California four-piece did what they do best – delivering fast, energetic, and melodic skate punk in its purest form. Jumping from song to song, touching on classics such as ‘My Own Country,’ ‘Straight Ahead,’ ‘Same Old Story,’ ‘Fuck Authority,’ and ‘Society,’ intervened with funny banter between singer Jim Lindberg, guitarist Fletcher Dragge, and bassist Randy Bradbury, they provided a short but sweet treat for their fans in the crowd. They also compiled a short medley of NOFX tracks like ‘Bob,’ ‘Kill All the White Man’ or ‘The Brews,’ with a few bits of other punk rock classics, while counting down T-shirts of bands they like in the crowd. They also snuck in their cover of ‘Stand By Me,’ before closing with the legendary ‘Bro Hymn.’
As much as I love Pennywise, however, I feel like their home is in smaller venues, rather than big arena’s like this. Skate punk is generally a two-way conversation, and their direct approach did suffer a bit from the tall stage, multiple barriers, and being far from the crowd, although not in a way that would deter me from seeing them again. On the contrary, I only want to see them more, in a more intimate venue and in front of their own fans. As the headliners themselves would say, albeit not tonight – “It’s farewell and not goodbye!”
