Promoters are building venues just so Dropkick Murphys have some new places to play. Or at least that’s how it feels.
As the Dropkicks prepare to relaunch their annual run of local St. Pat’s shows, they will be the first Boston band to play Roadrunner – a 3,500-capacity room in Allston-Brighton. The March 20 Roadrunner date will be preceded by three sold-out House of Blues shows.
It will be cool to see Ken Casey and crew add another spot to the list of Mass. venues they’ve played (a list that already includes Fenway Park, the TD Garden, Agganis Arena, minor league ballparks and a dozen now-shuttered rock clubs). But at this point it would be cool to see the band performing in the flesh at a Dunks.
“The crowd is like a member of the band,” Casey told the Herald from a tour stop in New Orleans. “As the COVID numbers go down, I can creep a little closer to the audience. But every time I jump out on a subwoofer toward the crowd, I look over at our tour manager and he’s giving me this ‘No, no, no,’ sign like he’s my mom.”
You can’t blame Casey or the crowd for being over eager to reunite. As Boston (and international) audiences know, the Dropkicks have built their formidable reputation on being a scorched earth live act.
During the height of the pandemic, the band pioneered livestreaming shows without fans in attendance — Streaming Up From Boston from St. Patrick’s Day 2020 has been watched more than 13 million times across platforms; May 2020’s Streaming Outta Fenway was the first music performance directly on the infield at Fenway and featured a virtual Jumbotron guest spot from Bruce Springsteen.
The show the night of St. Pat’s will once again be streamed. But this time thousands of fans will be captured by the cameras.
“Livestreams might be the wave of the future but I think people got sick of just seeing us without a crowd,” Casey said with a laugh. “I want the crowd to be the featured performer of this show.”
While the pandemic shut down venues and canceled tours, the Dropkicks have worked hard to keep their sizable cult satisfied — and they’ll keep on working with tour dates scheduled through February 2023, including stops in a dozen European cities.
“If you compare it to what other bands have done during the pandemic, releasing an album and doing four livestreams is probably considered busy,” Casey said with another chuckle. “That’s crazy to think of because there was so much downtime. But the (album and livestreams) were so key to keeping us sane and focused.”
Casey likes to keep busy (he actually also finished his college degree during the “downtime”). And he’ll stay busy. There’s the touring, a new album of originals that’s about halfway written, and the Dropkicks plan to release a Woody Guthrie tribute project within 2022. He’ll also handle co-lead singer Al Barr’s parts while Barr takes care of his mother while she’s sick.
“We sing a lot about family and here’s a chance for us and Al to put our money where our mouth is,” Casey said. “But our fans know that. One of the reasons they like us is because of what we sing about.”
“I will say that some of these songs are designed to have Al and I singing over each other so, well, breathing is tricky,” he laughed.
For details and tickets, go to dropkickmurphys.com.