Live music galleries: Flogging Molly [2013]

(I got the idea for this series while sifting through the ‘piles’ of digital photos on my laptop. It occurred to me to share some of these great pics from some of my favourite concert sets from time to time. Until I get around to the next one, I invite you to peruse my ever-growing list of concerts page.)

Artist: Flogging Molly
When: August 3rd, 2013
Where: River stage, Osheaga, Jean Drapeau Park, Montreal
Context: Ten years ago this summer, I attended Montreal’s Osheaga arts and music festival with my good friends Tim and Mark. It was an unforgettable weekend and we saw countless amazing performances over the festival’s three days. I’ve already posted photos* from some of the weekend’s sets and plan to share a few more of these in the months leading up to this year’s edition, which I will sadly not be attending. Some of these posts will have fewer photos than my normal galleries, but this should not be taken to be indicative of the quality of the performances, but of the difficulty of obtaining quality pics while being so completely in the moment.

Flogging Molly was on the River stage mid-afternoon on the second day of the festival and the three of us were unanimous in not wanting to miss it. Like the Dropkick Murphys, when I saw them two years beforehand, I knew this band’s set would be worth seeing, despite not being all that familiar with their material. Frontman Dave King set the tone early in the set with a raucous, “Alright you bastards!”, and then taking a big swig off his Irish breakfast (aka Guinness). Mining the Celtic punk sound made famous by The Pogues, they got the crowd all riled up and ready to party. After their set, Tim remarked that should have waited to have breakfast with them (referring to the singer’s can of Guinness) and Mark’s response was that he would “love a f@*king drink with Flogging Molly”. Good times indeed.
Point of reference song: “Don’t shut ’em down”

*Past galleries from this festival weekend have included the following:

• Frightened Rabbit
• New Order
• Daughter