As usual before these gigs, I had conducted a little research, and was fairly sure of what to expect. Party Irish music, pretty much along the lines of out of control early Pogues. Should be fun. I arrived a little late at the Liquid Room, due to work commitments, but the band arrived on stage not soon after that. I heard a couple of whet were basically thrash punk tunes, and then a heavier straight thrash number, and was beginning to think that maybe Flogging Molly eschew their Irish influences for live gigs, relying more on the punk element to get the crowd going. This continued for a while longer, and personally I was just thinking that they could use an infusion of melodic Irishness to relieve things, and "this isn't quite what I was expecting" when the vocalist piped up with "Thanks a lot! Flogging Molly up next!" 
Ah. I see. Wrong band. Maybe I wasn't as late as I'd thought, and perhaps I'd better include pictures of the band in my research next time.The REAL Flogging Molly took to the stage shortly after that, with a nice touch. As Johnny Cash was singing "Sam Hall" through the PA, the band came strolling midway through the fourth verse; 'I saw Molly in the crowd an' I hollered, right out loud: "Hey there Molly, ain't you proud?" Damn your eyes.' And the visual difference from the previous band was so striking that I have to admit to feeling slightly daft for being so easily deceived. Banjo, Mandolin, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass, fiddle and drums, with a multitude of other instruments waiting in the background. What was I thinking? Once the music started, this most definitely WAS what I was expecting. From the first note it was high energy power Irish, very much in the vein of rampant pogues. 
Dave King, who I think is the de facto leader of the band, has a history of music very different from the traditional Irish music he was surrounded by as a youth, originally playing with Motorhead guitarist Eddie Clarke in Fastway, and it doesn't take too much imagination to realize that they must have been a fairly yampy unit.The mainstay of the Flogging Molly set was, as mentioned earlier, very upbeat party Irish punk, if such a genre exists, and while the crowd were available for lunacy immediately, so were the band. I have a particularly vivid memory of some totally over the top Pete Townsend style windmilling on the mandolin from Robert Schmidt, who at various times throughout the set also plays banjo, bazouki and mandola. King dedicated Selfish Man to "the evil of this world, the president of the United States, Mr. George. W. fucking Bush!" and it was certainly delivered, and received, with unbridled passion. Lots of dancing and cavorting about all night, and both band and crowd were doubtless pints of fluid lighter after this gig. |
report by sean and photos by maki |
| photos : [ Flogging Molly | The Cherry Cokes | Lucero ] |
mag files : Flogging Molly Flogging Molly within a mile of Ebisu Station : (05/09/29 @ Liquidroom Ebisu) : review by sean, photos by makiphoto report : (05/09/29 @ Liquidroom Ebisu) : photos by makiphoto report : (04/04/07 @ Shinsaibashi Club Quattro) : photo by stevephoto report : (04/04/06 @ Shibuya O-West) : photo by makiphoto report : (04/04/05 @ Shibuya O-West) : photo by maki |
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The Official site Flogging Molly www.26f.com The latest album  『within a mile from home』 |
previous works 『Swagger』 『Drunken Lullabies』 『Drunken Lullabies』 (US import) 『Swagger 』 (US import) 『Alive Behind the Green Door 』 (US import) 『Swagger』(UK import) 『Drunken Lullabies 』(UK import) check the albums? |
 2005Flogging Molly within a mile of Ebisu Station : Flogging Molly (29th Sept.. @ Liquidroom Ebisu)Liquid Room Meltdown!!!! : Ash (11th Jul. @ Liquidroom Ebisu)Can I play another song? It won't be a long one! : Little Joe Washington & The Eastside Kings with Jungle Hop(16th June. @ Shibuya Club Quattro)Stapling iit Together : Jack Johnson with G.Love & Special Sauce (2nd June. @ Tokyo Kokusai Forum)2004Not just along for The Ride : Los Lobos (7th Oct. @ Liquidroom Ebisu) |