Live Review: Dropkick Murphys - Academy, Manchester
Support: Gogol Bordello
6th February 2024
Words: Matthew Williams
Photos: Nic Howells
I find myself heading iton Manchester for an evening with two bands who I’ve always wanted to see, but for one reason or another, never quite made it. Strolling into a packed Manchester Academy, I could hear the unique sound of the immigrant punks themselves, Gogol Bordello, and what a performance they put on.
All seven members of the band on stage, are a bundle of energy with frontman and leader of the curious mob, Eugene Hutz, marshalling his troops with ease, and plays that role of firebrand frontman to perfection. There’s a real sense of a party atmosphere inside the venue, perhaps people keeping warm from the frosty chill outside, but with songs like “I Would Never Wanna be Young Again”, “Not a Crime” and Wonderlust King” in full flow, they band are on top form tonight.
“Excellent stuff, it good to see you again Manchester” and with a quick guitar change, Hutz, leads the charge swaying from side to side, with the boppy “My Companjera” The violin playing from Sergey Ryabtsev is exquisite and sounds sumptuous and purposeful. “Manchester, I want a hey, hey, hey” and the crowd duly obliges and would do just about anything they are told right now.
They are joined by a few more people on stage for “Fire on Ice Floe” which is such an upbeat song, and I can’t stop smiling whilst watching them in full flow. And Hutz agrees as he comments that “You are making us feel awake, which is better than sleeping through your life, right?” This is met with loud applause, before he dedicates “From Boyarka to Boyca” to the people of Ukraine. With percussionist Pedro Erazo performing his unique vocal style on “Immigraniada (We Comin’ Rougher)”, the crowd are encouraged by Hutz to “fuck this place up” and “let’s get back to the roots, old school circle pit” for “We Mean it Man”.
They really are first class entertainment, and with an acoustic guitar in hand, and jokingly calling the crowd “bastard football hooligans” they are bathed in purple for what can only be described as proper drinking song “Start Wearing Purple”. It’s a joy to watch Erica Mancini on the accordion parading all over the stage and after paying his respects to The Dropkick Murphy’s, they are in full on party mode with “Pala Tute” encouraging us all to stop being “pretentious dicks” as this is “the last two minutes, so lets fuck it up you twenty four hour party people” and of course the crowd lap it up, to bring an end to a crazy but brilliant set.
With the sound of Sham 69’s “If The Kids are United” blasting across the PA, followed by “Foggy Dew” the crowd are getting revved up as Dropkick Murphys enter the stage we get that Al Barr scream of “Captain Kelly’s Kitchen” and they are off with the audience in full voice singing and clapping along. With the stage immersed in blue lights, they crank it up with “The Boys are Back” which is met with great applause from the enthusiastic masses.
Halfway through “Prisoner’s Song” we are encouraged to get our hands “up in the air” and bounce along to another brilliant track before we get my favourite song, “Mick Jones Nicked My Pudding”. Seeing this live in the flesh left me beaming from ear to ear and from that moment on I was totally hooked into their performance.
“How are you guys Manchester? You’ve never disappointed here and we thank you for the support over the 28 years we’ve been coming to this city, as you’ve always treated us like family. This goes out to our dearest friends in Gogol Bordello” as Barr launches into the fiery “(F)lannagan’s Ball”. With “Which Side are you On?” being dedicated to “the three biggest c*n*s on the planet, Trump, Netanyahu and Musk” they are ripping through their set at some pace, and the crowd are enjoying the ride, as the fists are raised for the anthemic “Warrior’s Code”
All I can see around me is happy, smiling faces from people who are having a damn good time watching a tremendous, well-oiled machine. It begs the question as to why I’ve left it so long to see them, but at least I’m finally here soaking up their energetic live production.
The flowing set list continued with “Ripping Up the Boundary Line” followed by the raucous “Going out in Style” and the pace was kept up with the brilliant “Bastards on Parade”. The clap along during “James Connolly” seemed to go on for ages, with everyone involved and then the air was filled with one digit from everyone’s hands during “Middle Finger”.
For a slight moment, the tempo changed for the piano chords of sublime “Curse of a Fallen Soul” before it explodes into life and “The Hardest Mile” rocks along even more, was no pause or interruptions, it’s a seamless display from the whole band. After a beautiful rendition of “Walk Away” we are treated to “Forever” with Barr letting us know that “we did this last night by request, and it went down ok”
“Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya” was another rousing song to get the already hyped-up crowd even more hyped up and then they power straight into the Ac/Dc cover of “It’s a Long Way to the Top” with bassist Ken Casey doing a brilliant job on vocals. With Barr back, he shouts the signal for “The States of Massachusetts” and the place erupts with Irish jigs and jumping around everywhere. “Are you ready Manchester” Barr screams at an expectant room, as the crack on with “Rose Tattoo”, and end with “Workers Party”, which has the little 8-year-old boy near me with his mum and dad, clapping and singing along with so much joy, its infectious.
With an encore ensured, there are chaotic scenes when they take it up another level with “I’m Shipping up to Boston” and you can feel the electric energy everywhere, this is THE song and leaves everyone feeling happy. They finish with the immortal song “Until the Next Time” and I for one will definitely be back next time they are in town, as this was everything I expected and more from one of Boston’s finest. Slainte.
Photo Credits: Nic Howells
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