Photos and Review by Jeff Palmucci
The Dropkick Murphys opened their five-night St. Patrick’s Day homestand Friday at MGM Music Hall at Fenway, and from the moment the openers hit the stage, it was clear this wasn’t going to be a phone-in-the-air kind of evening. As Ken Casey remarked during the show, nobody was using their iPhone — they were too busy moshing in the pit.
The Vigilantes Kick Things Off
I missed the Vigilantes’ opening set, but by all accounts it was a fitting start to the evening. The Boston street punk four-piece — featuring guitarist Fernando Strohmeyer, bassist Jeff DaRosa, drummer Patt Melzard, and vocalist Jasper McGandy — were active from 1997 to 2002, cutting their teeth on tours with the Dropkick Murphys, Blood for Blood, and the Ducky Boys. For a night billed as a celebration of 30 years of Boston punk, having the Vigilantes back on a stage felt right.
Haywire 617 Sets the Tone
Boston hardcore outfit Haywire 617 opened the show, and there were tons of fans in the crowd. Haywire shirts were everywhere, and fans sang along from the first note — these self-described “Boston Boot Boys” have built a devoted following in just two years and four records, and it showed. Frontman Austin Sparkman spent the set posing with crowd surfers as they sailed overhead, then at one point launched himself off the stage and into the crowd. The surfers themselves seemed to have no interest in being escorted to the side by security — they just came up on the stage an dove right back into the crowd.
The highlight came near the end of the set, when the band broke into the title track from their New England Forever split EP with the Dropkick Murphys, released on St. Patrick’s Day. Ken Casey emerged from the wings for the duet, and the crowd — already at a boil — went over the top. The split, which features each band covering one of the other’s songs alongside two collaborative tracks, was first made available as an exclusive 12″ vinyl on this tour before its March 17 digital release.
Showcase Showdown Returns
The middle slot went to a genuine surprise: Showcase Showdown, the tongue-in-cheek Boston punk stalwarts who were a fixture of the ’90s scene. The crowd knew those songs too — the “Oi! Oi! Oi!” chants came fast and loud, and by the time the band ripped into “Fuck You Norway,” the entire floor was singing along. Crowd surfers flipped the bird at the stage as they rode overhead, which, in context, read less as hostility and more as the highest possible compliment. It was a reunion set that felt like the band had never left.
Dropkick Murphys: Thirty Years, No Signs of Slowing
Then the Murphys took the stage — and took it apart.
Tour shirts bearing the slogan “Fighting Nazis Since 1996” were everywhere in the crowd. Casey declared it a “union solidarity night” — not just rhetoric, but a real program. The band partners with locals like IBEW 2222 to distribute tickets to union members, who get a pre-show event before doors open to the public. One of those union members joined Casey onstage for the duet on “The Dirty Glass.” In the current political climate, the message landed with force. As Casey told In These Times: “I didn’t set out to necessarily be the voice of saying some of this stuff, but it has to be said, because we got to wake the fuck up.”
The setlist pulled from across the band’s three-decade catalog — “Barroom Hero” and “Skinhead on the MBTA” from the early days, “The State of Massachusetts” and “Tessie” from their arena years, and cuts from the 2025 album For the People that proved the new material holds its own alongside the classics. The politically charged “Citizen I.C.E.” — reworked from the earlier “Citizen C.I.A.” and featured on the Haywire split — drew one of the fiercest crowd responses of the night.
The main set wound down with “Rose Tattoo” and “Worker’s Song” before the band returned for an encore that opened with the live debut of “Only the Strong” from the New England Forever split. “I’m Shipping Up to Boston” followed — 5,000 people screaming every word — and “The Large Man” closed out the night.
Thirty years in, the Dropkick Murphys remain exactly what they’ve always been: a working-class band that treats every show like it might be their last. The openers — the Vigilantes’ reunion, Haywire’s raw energy, and Showcase Showdown’s riotous return — made the night feel less like a headliner-plus-support bill and more like a celebration of Boston punk across generations. Four more shows to go this week. Boston is in good hands.