Flogging Molly @ HMV Kentish Town Forum
If you keep
track of older Shot in the Foot articles, you’ll know that I thought the new
Flogging Molly album ‘Speed of Darkness’ was amazing. Being in London anyway
that weekend I decided to go and check out what the new songs would sound like
live, knowing that the band always put on a good show. Unfortunately I also
know that they have a penchant for awful support bands, having seen them on
numerous occasions topping the bill on a line-up that I would normally avoid
like the plague, if it wasn’t for them. This gig was no exception, and although
I have no idea what the two bands in question were called, suffice to say that
both their sounds lay in some kind of aurally hellish middle ground between
indie and stadium rock...middle of the road isn’t even the half of it! A good
couple of hours spent drinking ruinously expensive beer in the entrance area,
and moaning like a champ. However, after a brief period for the audience to
fathom out what they had just witnessed, the band people had come to see took
to the stage and soon swept away the lingering aftertaste of mediocrity with
their blinding mixture of folk, punk and rock that had me forgiving all
support-based transgressions. Pulling out a selection of classics spanning
their career, they had the crowd jumping and shouting along from the start –
and the new songs sounded right up there, it seems like everyone already knows
the words to tracks like ‘Don’t Shut ‘em Down’, ‘Revolution’ and ‘Speed of
Darkness’. Other highlights included ‘Salty Dog’, ‘Drunken Lullabies’, ‘Devil’s
Dancefloor’ and ‘Tobacco Island’; there isn’t much need for a track-by-track
account though, if you’ve seen them you’ll know how much material they can get
through, and if you haven’t then you’re missing out! I woke up the next morning
with a crippling hangover, no voice, but a massive grin on my face, because
this band live are up there with the greats!
4/5 – one point less than it should have been due to the
support.
Jono
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