Review and photos by Keith Perks
Flogging Molly and the Interrupters set out on a co-headlining summer tour recently with Tiger Army and The Skints as support.
The tour is broken up into two parts, the first of which kicked off on June 7 in Indianapolis and went through July 3 in Asbury Park. The second leg of the tour will pick up again on Sept. 9 in Denver and will wrap up in Paso Robles, Calif., on Sept. 21.
The tour stopped in Philadelphia on June 24 at the Skyline Stage at The Mann. It’s a beautiful venue nestled in the Centennial District of West Fairmount Park.
Unfortunately, Tiger Army was not available to perform at this stop due to vocal issues. Nick 13 said: “Very sad to say that I’ve lost my voice – Raleigh & D.C. were a struggle, I need to get enough vocal rest to be able to give you the show you all deserve.” Sad news. I was looking forward to shooting them.
UK’s The Skints hit the stage and quickly got the crowd pumped up for the evening. This band is a reggae punk band from London that adds a little ska, soul, dancehall and rap into the mix.
Lead singer Marcia Richards is insanely talented, bringing multiple instruments to the stage. She plays keyboards, saxophone, melodica, guitar, flute and sampler. AND I saw her side stage shooting The Interrupters! I checked out some of her work and she’s a great photographer as well.
The Interrupters are a good time. Pure energy and enthusiasm. This was my second time shooting them with the first being on a Dropkick Murphys tour a few years ago. Each member is all smiles on stage and they ooze excitement. You can tell they are having as much fun as the crowd.
They played songs from each of their releases with a medley of covers touching on “Come Out and Play,” “Linoleum” and “Ruby Soho.”
The Interrupters crushed their set. The crowd was enjoying every minute of it as they played their way through songs like “Take Back the Power,” “Broken World,” “By My Side,” “Family” and ending with “She’s Kerosene.” Sixteen songs in total, they left us a bit winded, but wanting more.
Flogging Molly finished up the night and performed like a well-oiled machine. Dave King made the remark that he turned 60 and it hit me just how long I’ve been a fan of theirs. Their first release was on SideOneDummy in 2000!
The band performed a 13-song set that brought us back to their first release “Swagger” and led us all the way through seven releases, including their newest, “Anthem.”
They kicked off their set with a favorite of mine, “Drunken Lullabies.” This was the moment I started to lose my voice. I was singing along as much as I was shooting. They played “Selfish Man,” “These Times Have Got Me Drinking/Tripping Up the Stairs,” “Devil’s Dance Floor” and ended the evening with “The Seven Deadly Sins.”
There were two songs in particular I hoped they’d play before the set ended and I was very happy they were included on the setlist. Along with the “Drunken Lullabies,” “What’s Left of the Flag” and especially “If I Ever Leave This World Alive” are favorites of mine.
After my three songs in the photo pit, I stood in the crowd with a beer in hand and sang my heart out. So much so that I had no voice for a week.
Flogging Molly was a bucket list band for me to photograph and I was so very pleased to have done it in Philly with The Interrupters.
Flogging Molly brought the “craic” to The Mann and we were all better for it. (Maybe not our livers, though.)
Sláinte!
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