Dropkick Murphys + The Mahones + Teenage Bottlerocket @ Metropolis

Reeling on the heels of an incredible M for Montreal festival, I wondered how I could ever manage to make it to the Dropkick Murphys show on Sunday night, but immediately upon hearing a Celtic flute, accordion, and a fiddle, the Scottish girl that I am broke into a smile and got her jig on. 

The band to blame was the first on the roster, The Mahones. Being the least punk of the three bands last night, playing songs that are more traditional Celtic sounding, ended their set with "Drunken Lazy Bastard" and the ever-charming Finny McConnell tipping his hat, taking a bow and thanking Montreal as they left the stage. 

Teenage Bottlerocket were next to hit the stage. This run of the mill punk rock band spun the show in nothing less than a tacky direction by banging their heads and rocking their guitars out in unison. They also unoriginally had a skull-masked guy who came out frequently with big signs that had words on them like "Freak Out!" (Didn't the Ramones do that?)

The sold-out crowd at Metropolis began to get antsy waiting for the band they were there to see, chanting "Let's go Murphys," when all of sudden the lights went out and the haunting Celtic tune, "Foggy Dew" began to play. 

As the band drifted on to stage, the fans went wild. These are no ordinary fans, as the love they feel for their Dropkick Murphys is wildly passionate, giving you a feeling as if you were in an Irish pub with a bunch of drunkards. One wrong word and a brawl could break out.

Thankfully this would not be the case, except for a small few that were escorted out by security.

On this, their return to Montreal, the Dropkick Murphys' appropriately kicked off the show with one of their new songs "The Boys Are Back" off of their yet to be released album Signed And Sealed With Blood. A song definitely worthy of all the jumping and fist pumping. 

Nothing got the crowd moshing and surfing more than the traditional tunes "Johnny, I Hardly I Knew Ya" and "The Irish Rover".

They slowed it down with the lovely little ballad, as ballads go for the Dropkick Murphys, "Rose Tattoo". Giving an awesome opportunity for the crowd to really get a taste of the raunchy, but amazing voice of bassist Ken Casey. 

And if the show could not get any better, they went out with a bang ending the three-song encore with a phenomenal AC/DC cover of "Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap".

--Rebecca M hosts The Commonwealth Conundrum, Wednesdays 4-6pm