Flogging Molly; O'Death @ Pier 54

Flogging Molly; O'Death
@ Pier 54
New York, NY - July 31, 2008

It's been a couple years since I've seen Flogging Molly, and I was a bit hesitant. A distinct Irish and Punk band from Los Angeles, Flogging Molly made three excellent albums between 2000 and 2004. Without question, this band - who first came across my radar with a performance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien - were one of the best bands in the world during that time. Dave King wrote and sung with a ferocious spirit and ultimate authenticity, backed by one of the country's most talented bands. But the band went into a quiet phase following 2004's Within A Mile Of Home, perhaps to just finally revel in their hard earned success. They only finally released another complete LP of material this year, called Float. Either I've moved on or they've exhausted themselves because the initial listens of Float came off weak, with the exception of "Requiem for a Dying Song". But how would it be live still? The band always put on a hell of a show but would the new record's diminished strength do the same to the live show?

Feckin' no. Dave is as enigmatic and wonderful as ever and the band is as tight and professional as ever. Though I had to leave about 5 or 6 songs in so I could catch another Los Angeles band on the rise and making an appearance on Conan, it was clear that FM was still a band to rave about. On a beautiful Manhattan night, supported by an excellent sound system, King and company recalled all those great, spine tingling feelings they engineered in the first half of this decade. They still got it.

O'Death is probably the most fitting opener yet attached to Flogging Molly. The band's Appalachian sound, descended from the Scotch-Irish, matches well with the direct Celtic fury of Flogging Molly. Though the band is sloppier, grittier, and grimier than FM - and appropriately so - they not only got the crowd enthused, they gave the overwhelming throngs of drunken macho suburbanites a taste of what's cooking here in the city.