Dropkick Murphys | Roseland Ballroom

Dropkick Murphys

Despite the candles littering the stage and church backdrop, the Dropkick Murphys show at Roseland was neither solemn nor pious. No, this was a night of copious whiskey/Guinness drinking (hello, quadruple fisting!), painful pit injuries and lots of singalongs to the band's Celtic punk anthems, most of which involve: 1) Boston 2) Being Irish 3) Drinking or 4) the working man, who inevitably is a heavy-drinking Boston Irish lad. Except for promising "no baseball songs" (a nod to the band's Red Sox anthem "Tessie"...which doesn't go over well in cities not named Boston), this was textbook Murphys—lots of bagpipes, a few well-chosen covers (Springsteen's "Badlands"), the best drinking song ever written  ("Barroom Hero"), their big hit ("I'm Shipping Up to Boston" which you may remember from its prominent placement in "The Departed") and total crowd participation. And by total, we mean the dozens of girls who jumped on stage to singalong with "Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced," followed shortly thereafter by the pit-sweaty guys taking over the mics for "Skinhead on the MBTA." Given the near-religious ferocity on display, who needs church? With H20 and Civet.

More concert photos: Lilly Allen at Bowery Ballroom | Cold War Kids at Mercury Lounge | Animal Collective at Bowery Ballroom | Tom Jones at Terminal 5