Dropkicks

I'm not sure when my hearing will return to normal.

You know, I may be getting to old for this...

Nah...

But, that being said, it was one of the loudest things I've ever heard.

We had an entertaining night at the House of Blues in Dallas Saturday night, seeing the Dropkick Murphys live. Unfortunately, both of the warmup bands were really bad. I'm not sure I ever got the name of the first band, but the second was called "Big D and the Kids Table." Ugh.

They struck out with me before ever playing a note when the rolled out a huge banner that said "Stop Global Warming." Don't even get me started on the biggest scam that has ever been foisted upon our nation.

Anyway, they were basically "ska." I didn't know anybody still played "ska." The lead singer was whiny, rude, and obscene (many, many "f-bombs").

Finally, around 10p, the Murphys came on. I don't remember how long they played, but it was a good length, not too short. I'm majorly disappointed though. They did not play "Tessie." I guess maybe they've gotten a little burned out on that...whoa! Was that lightning??

Where was I? Lessee...guess maybe they've gotten a little burned out on that song. But still...there were a lot of Red Sox fans there, and I'm sure we would have all sung every word.

Oh, well. Didn't let it ruin my evening. They gave us "Shipping Up to Boston," "Captain Kelly's Kitchen," "The Fields of Athenry," "Flannigan's Ball," "Citizen CIA," and a whole bunch of songs I really didn't know very well, because I didn't go back past "Warrior's Code" and listen up on their older stuff.

See, I really didn't get into them until sometime last year. Here's how it happened. We were getting ready for our trip to Boston last year, and I was searching on Yahoo! Music Unlimited for songs about Boston to put on my mp3 player. I found a lot of them, some by groups/people I had never heard of. I learned that I really like "Boston" by Augustana... I also found two songs by the Murphys, "Shipping Up to Boston," and "For Boston." Well, I was exploring the album, "Warrior's Code," and I saw this song called "Tessie" down at the bottom. Being the curious type of person I am, I clicked on it. Imagine my surprise when the opening of the song was that Boston radio announcer calling the final play of the '04 series with Keith Foulke underhanding that ball to first base to end the game.

Then the song started. I was hooked. I spent the next week researching the Royal Rooters, "Nuf Ced" McGreevy and "Tessie." I even have the original recording of the song on my player now.

Having been a fan of the Sox for as long as I have, I'm actually kind of ashamed that I didn't know about McGreevy and the Royal Rooters before last year, but I love the history, the story, and it's tons of fun.

Anyway, that's when I began to really like the Dropkick Murphys and the rest of their music. It started when I realized they were Red Sox fans, but blossomed from there.

In the concert, their lead singer, Al Barr, well, he looks really angry all the time. Intensity, I guess. My wife described him as a "caged cat" when he wasn't singing. It was like he was pacing, but only had a limited area to pace in.

Unfortunately, the volume was so loud that we really couldn't understand any of the words. Well, not very many of them, anyway.

For one of the last songs, Ken Casey invited a bunch of girls up on the stage. It was pretty wild. I think some of them had had just a tad too much to drink. Ya think?? Heh. Then for the final song (or two) the whole stage was full of fans that had been on the floor area. Very crazy finish. Looked dangerous to me. I don't know if I would want a bunch of drunk, crazed people that had been whipped into a frenzy by an hour and half of Irish punk music anywhere near my expensive musical equipment. Hahaha....

Anyway, it was good fun, even though they didn't play "Tessie."

Now, it's time to really get serious about some baseball. I ordered my yearbook and media guide Saturday. I've got my MLB TV subscription so I can actually watch Red Sox games live. I'm hoping to get one of those new all red hats for my birthday. I really like those. I don't remember seeing those before this year. I should have my tickets to the three games in Texas very soon. I'm ready.

Ok, ok....back to work with me...