LIVE: Dropkick Murphys @ Albany Cap Center, 03/14/2022

Boston’s Dropkick Murphys made a stop in Albany on Monday night as part of their Saint Patrick’s Day Tour. Roughly 2500 fans made their way into the Albany Capital Center to celebrate St. Paddy’s Day a few days early.

The mood inside the Cap Center was celebratory all night long. From the first notes of “Cadence to Arms,” the crowd was electric. A large black curtain dropped, revealing the band on a large drum riser. Singer Ken Casey looked like he was shot out of a cannon as he ripped into “Do or Die.” Straddling the stage and the security barricade, he offered the mic to the crowd on the sing-along chorus. Casey covered most of the vocal duties normally covered by singer Al Barr who stayed home from the tour to take care of his ailing mother. When the band kicked into “The Boys Are Back” the crowd went to another level. It has been a few years since I saw crowd surfing at a show, but there it was once again. It was refreshing to see. Casey noted the band’s history playing in Albany from their beginning, giving a shout-out to Ted Etoll from Step Up Presents. They played a solid 26 song setlist. During “Dirty Glass” they brought out singer Jen Razavi from opener The Bombpops. Mikey Rivkees of The Rumjacks assisted on a cover of The Pogues “Body of An American” while Jesse Ahern joined in on “Caught in a Jar.” They close their set with their biggest commercial single “I’m Shipping Up To Boston,” leaving the fans fully satisfied.

There were three opening acts. Jesse Ahern opened the show with a tight set of solo acoustic songs with an Irish flair. Sydney Australia’s The Rumjacks served up a really cool mix of Celtic punk and hard rock. Fat Wreck Chords artist The Bombpops played an entirely too short set of punk tunes.
All in all, it was an incredible night of music and fun. As previously mentioned it was refreshing to see people dance again, to see strangers elbow to elbow thrusting beers into the air. We might not be out of the woods with COVID yet but it looks like we are getting closer every day.