Flogging Molly
Mar 12, 2005
The Fillmore

If you needed a single word to describe Flogging Molly’s live show it would be ...fun! It’s been a long time since I’ve been to a show where the people in the far back of the place were dancing and throwing down just as hard the as ones in the front. This band’s energy is intensely projected to the fans, no matter how big the audience or venue, and with 7 talented musicians on stage slammin’ down some drunken Irish rock, how can it not be? What’s even more impressive is that they did this to a sold out Fillmore crowd, on their first time playing there.

I had heard a few songs of theirs with a friend, but really didn’t know about them before going to this show. Watching Flogging Molly nail their tracks to the wall was extremely entertaining, even without all the beer. It’s really nice to see a band that drew an enormous crowd simply for being a unique, first-rate band rather than having a billion dollar marketing budget and major radio airplay, although I did see quite a few Guinness shirts at the bar. The crowd was very diverse, both in age and style, from punk rock chicks to teeny-boppers and of course there’s nothing like hairy guy legs in a kilt (shudder). Everywhere you looked people were having fun, and that’s what going to a show is all about, right?

Flogging Molly hit the highway on the Guinness sponsored “Green 17 Tour” with Hot Water Music and The Riverboat Gamblers supporting their third album, Within a Mile of Home. Supposedly they are still traveling in a van, but I seriously doubt Guinness and Side One Dummy Records www.sideonedummy.com put a band with that many members that are selling out The Fillmore in a van on a 17 week tour. If you’re looking for a get-down feel good show, check ‘em out when they make it back through Denver, if you’d like to know more right now, link your way over to www.floggingmolly.com.

-Drew Wright, March 18, 2005