I went to see Flogging Molly last night with some friends and had a blast. We had to wade through an hour and a half of lame opening acts, but there was a light at the end of the tunnel.

I haven’t had that much fun at a show since I was in college and I saw The Donnas and broke my glasses. We started out near the back of the crowd but John weaseled his way up front for one song and came back grinning from ear to ear. There was a throng of not-quite-moshers up front bouncing around and generally having a jolly old time. So when the right song came up, John and I went up front and took part in the festivities. It’s probably the friendliest moshing there is. No real sensation of violence or angst in the air, just running around, singing along, pumping your fist. It was a good time. I also know that I’m really out of shape because I was gasping for air after only one song.

They played two of their most intense songs back to back so that was a little more than I could handle, and I found myself with – lo and behold – a crooked pair of glasses after getting shoved into someone. No worries though, I got them straightened out today.

What most impressed me was the instrumentation and the musicianship. That is, they had a bassist, accordion player, violinist / some kind of flute thing, acoustic guitar, banjo / mandolin, electric guitar, and drums. That is a lot of people to have on stage at one time and getting them to all sound good in a large-scale sound system is no easy task. Somehow, the band sounded tight and unified even when they were at full throttle. A lot of practicing must go into sounding that good.

Many songs found some of the members hanging back while other members took the spotlight. I though that was a good idea because it allowed specific instruments to shine that would normally get buried beneath bass, drums, and guitar. For example, some songs called for only acoustic guitar, mandolin, and violin, and the other musicians literally stood back away from their mics, out of the light, and either played nothing or played minimally. In a band of that size, I think this is a necessity because it underscores the band’s variety and gives the audience something besides a guitar-bass-drums rock show.

Be sure to go if they come by your town. Even if it’s on a school night. I did. And I only went to one (of four) classes today. I know. Shame on me.

I only have one of their albums so I’ll use John’s approximation of the setlist:

album: swagger
-Salty Dog
-Selfish Man
-The Likes of You Again
-Devil's Dance Floor
-Sentimental Johnny

album: drunken lullabies
-Drunken Lullabies
-What's Left of the Flag
-If I Ever Leave this World Alive
-The Kilburn High Road
-Rebels of the Sacred Heart
-The Rare Ould Times
-The Son Never Shines (on Closed Doors)

album: within a mile of home
-Screaming at the Wailing Wall
-Seven Deadly Sins
-Factory Girls
-Whistles The Wind
-Light of a Fading Star
-Queen Anne's Revenge
-The Wanderlust
-Within a Mile of Home

One last note – the show was at a new venue, Warehouse Live. It’s much better than The Meridian (which a support beam in the middle of the stage). The sound was pretty good and there was a big, open bar, but they really could have used an ATM in that place.