Flogging Molly's specialty is reconciling the nonconformity and the mainstream so often at odds with each other in music.When their album Speed Of Darkness was released, it raged against a flawed system while still somehow participating in it fully, making its listeners feel a little better about the way of the world. Their songs are still powerful and forthright. Their themes speak to the common folks who have been banged up and spit out by the world. The L.A. based Irish group has taken it on the road again. Flogging Molly's stage show contains some of that chest-thumping indignation, but the level of energy and bursts of musical frivolity that accompany it turn out to be a real delight for fans.
Last Tuesday, I spent my evening at The Fillmore in the company of these guys in the midst of their Green 17 tour listening to the rousing anthems and loud powerful lyrics while watching as an audience of mostly upper-middle-class locals and young kids joined together to belt out the urgent punk-tinged songs and stamp loudly on the floor.
Clearly teaching a master class on how to put on a show properly, Dave King and company put their infectious energy and impish goodwill to use and let the vibe waft out over the crowd as even drunken patrons paid the proper respect to fellow audience members and to the band themselves. Pulling the set list from old favorites and newer more powerful songs, they kept old fans and new ones happy and the energy level at full blast from the beginning to the end. In addition to making the lives of all of us in the standing-room-only crowd more exciting, they have clearly worked hard to let us know they are listening.
