CONCERT REVIEW

FLOGGING MOLLY
Vans Warped Tour
Tweeter Center
Chicago, IL
July 24, 2004

Entertainment
Art

Story by SARAH PULS
Photos by SEAN SCHUETZ

As I approached the stage at the Vans Warped Tour where Flogging Molly was setting up, I was exhausted. Not just a little tired, not ready to sit down and rest for a second, I was downright weary. I was in a limp and wilted state from lugging myself and fifteen pounds of camera equipment around a huge multi-stage outdoor punk show for several hours.

But as the band got out on stage and started playing their first song, "Drunken Lullabies," my energy was suddenly renewed. In fact, the entire crowd seemed to catch their second (or third, or maybe fourth) wind at that same moment.

Flogging Molly is generally a very high energy band, but there were playing their songs at a much faster pace than usual. They obviously wanted to pack as many songs and as much entertainment as they could into their show. Their set was only 20 minutes long, but they packed a lot of music into those 20 minutes. In fact, it could be likened to a swift kick in the junk, which my male friends point out is always a surprising shock and hurts like bejeezus. But in this case, it hurt in a good way, like that satisfying pain of bashing your head against the concrete after the Tweeter Center security guard who is 20 feet away from the press area told you she had no idea where said press area was.

However, Flogging Molly’s unique style of music lends itself well to a faster pace. Their music awesomely blends traditional Irish folk music with punk-rock. This seamless mix of the old with the new sounds outstanding, even played very fast. The lead singer, Dublin native Dave King, deftly handles the lyrics, even at insane speeds, and he fills the brief moments in between songs with witty banter and charming anecdotes.

The band played songs from their two studio albums (debut album "Swagger" and follow-up album "Drunken Lullabies") including "Drunken Lullabies," "Salty Dog," "What’s Left of the Flag," "Selfish Man," "Devil’s Dance Floor," and "Rebels of the Sacred Heart." They also debuted a song from their new album, which they have been working on in the studio. I didn’t catch the name of the new song, but it played well to the crowd and made me excited to hear more fresh material from them on their new album.

The crowd was the same type of concert-goer I’d been seeing all day at almost every main stage. But there was one outstanding difference during the Flogging Molly show: there was no moshing. Instead of moshing, there was some crowd-surfing, and a lot of people dancing and jumping around like idiots, not to mention singing along very exuberantly to every song.

Flogging Molly is a real crowd pleaser and totally worth going to see. They are a great band, and they play to a crowd with varied tastes. Their one-of-a kind style was like a breath of fresh air to the Vans Warped Tour, because they have a totally different feel than most punk bands. Their folk-influenced music played on traditional folk-music instruments such as tin whistle, accordion, mandolin, and acoustic guitar, mixed with the driving force of punk drumming, electric guitar, and electric bass makes for a great show and a musically interesting sound.