Dropkick Murphys / Bite The Bullet

live in Poultney, VT (2003)

OnTheAttack

Saturday, March 29th, I found myself in Poultney, VT to see the Dropkick Murphys play a show at Green Mountain College. This was an odd show for the band, playing at a random college in the middle of nowhere. As big as the Murphys have become, I expected a somewhat large crowd to show. But, I guess due to the surroundings, the crowd was limited to about 200 people. While the college itself may have been disappointed, this made the show much more intimate and fun for long time fans like myself.

While originally slated to perform alone, DKM brought a new band from the Boston area called Bite The Bullet. The best description I can give is rock & roll with a little bit of Nugent and CCR thrown in. They put on a solid performance and their record(which they are about to record) should be interesting.

I talked to Ken Casey before the show, and he wasn't too thrilled about the barricades in front of the stage. Along with the barricades was a group of overzealous security guards. I think the college definitely went a little overboard, especially for such a small crowd. Regardless, the show was great. A 24 song set, with a decent mix of old and new songs. "Fields of Athenry" from their new album(and the second Atticus comp) was one of my favorites of the night, along with older songs like "On The Attack" and "In The Streets of Boston". Unlike there other shows, there was no fake encore, and everything ran smoothly. Surprisingly, security was nowhere to be found after the show and we got to hang out with the band afterwards. Even after seeing them 3 times in as many weeks, I still am not tired of DKM, and the show was almost as good as the St. Patricks day show. Now, let the shit talking commence.