Flogging Molly Action Packed Show at the Commodore
written by Emilio Angel
Shortly after 8pm, the drapes closed on the Commodore’s art nouveau windows and the light dimmed out for Folk singer Dylan Walshe. I haven’t heard his music before, but his voice completely captivated me! The Irish singer from Dublin sang Folk tunes with just a guitar, stomp box, and a tambourine on his foot and his music created a sombre, melancholic vibe that at the same time had a certain joy and blissfulness that much Irish music has. Walshe played for about half an hour after which White Buffalo was up next.
White Buffalo was a fun act to watch. Similar to, but more Rock n Roll than previous opener Dylan Walshe. I noticed the entire venue singing along to White Buffalo tunes – his amazing deep voice and guitar playing completely captured the attention of everyone at the Commodore. White Buffalo (aka Jake Smith) played with a lot of passion. With only a guitar and his voice, he killed it, and by the end of his set everyone was screaming and applauding him.
Flogging Molly started the show with a couple tunes from their new album. Starting off with ‘The Hand of John L. Sullivan’, the entire venue started jumping up and down; mosh pits were forming right behind me, people were crowd surfing and landing on the other side of the barriers. The crowd reacted in a great way immediately.
After the first couple of songs singer David King introduced the band. He was excited to be playing in Vancouver and the crowd cheered when he threw cans of Guinness into the crowd. The band played their hit song ‘Drunken Lullabies’ which got the whole crowd screaming and singing along. Bob Schmidt sure knows how to play a banjo punk-rock style. The crowd became even more boisterous! I was barely able to grab onto the railing due to the crowd jumping and pushing.
Flogging Molly played one of their best songs ‘Worst Day Since Yesterday’ and singer David King gave a small speech on how they used to not play it, but only recently started playing. This song is like an anthem so everyone was singing along to it.
‘Saints and Sinners’, a classic, was played and everyone in the venue jumped up and down, shoved front and forth and moshed even more (if that’s possible).
We were introduced to Bridget Regan’s beautiful whistle playing with the song ‘Tenement Square’, and heard her melancholic violin in the song ‘Float’. Beautiful.
Mid-show the song ‘Laura’ (a personal favorite of mine) was played. I could not sing louder if I tried.. and felt raw emotion to be part of this one. Despite it being Flogging Molly’s 20th year on the road they perform as if they are in their prime. David’s voice is spot on and the rest of the band continue to play their best.
During the show, a girl of around 5 ft in height was crowd surfing, came flying on top of me, and ended up hitting herself on the barrier. David King noticed this and dedicated the song ‘Devils Dance Floor’ to her. Obviously, we would all mosh in her honor. Later on in the show, we hear ‘What’s Left of The Flag’ and ‘Seven Deadly Sins’. What an amazing night for everyone there. The band disappeared for a couple minutes at the end of the set, but came back on quickly for an encore to finish the show off with ‘Crushed and Salty Dog.’
This show was absolutely amazing! After playing just short of 2 hours, I was exhausted but happy. I witnessed some of Ireland best music at its prime.
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written by Emilio Angel