Murphys give energetic set

If you've seen The Departed, you know who the Dropkick Murphys are. Originating from Boston, the Dropkick Murphys have become the epitome of the Irish punk rock genre (alongside others such as Flogging Molly and Street Dogs). If you've never heard Irish punk rock before, envision the Clash with bagpipes. In fact, the Dropkick Murphys draw inspiration from the Clash, along with other popular bands such as AC/DC and the Pogues.

First let me say that when I heard the Dropkick Murphys were coming to Atlanta, I was pretty excited. Their new album, Meanest of Times, which came out Sept. 18, is an amazing studio album release and is truly worth checking out. It does well in keeping consistent with their hardcore, upbeat and rebellious style, all the while raising Irish pride and avoiding being repetitive.

And while their new album, along with their previous releases, avoids such redundancy, I can't say the same about the performance they put on last week at the Masquerade.

I've seen a lot of pop rock and punk rock concerts in my day, almost all of which I came out of having had one of the best experiences of my life. I didn't feel that way when I left the Masquerade last Thursday night. As hard as this is to admit, I thought the music was too loud (and I love loud music), to the extent where if I had to drive home I probably would have had to wait an hour to retain sufficient enough hearing to avoid a head-on collision.

Sound quality was lacking too. Whether this was the result of the volume and/or bass being turned to high, or an unfortunate consequence of having seven different band members on the stage at one time with just as many different instruments and vocals to match, I'm not sure. Their set wasn't terrible... it just got old after the first 45 minutes.

On a more positive note, the energy level of the show was one of the highest I've ever seen. This was probably the result of their upbeat and hardcore style of music -- and furthermore by the overwhelming Irish pride contained in the majority of the audience.

When the headlining band's set lacks, the overall consensus on how a show is finds a greater dependency on the quality of the opening sets. Paving the way for the Dropkick Murphys were Everybody Out (first to play) and The HorrorPops.

Much like the Dropkick Murphys (and even more so), Everbody Out put a heavy emphasis on incorporating an Irish accent into their hardcore punk rock style in defining their image. And while the Dropkick Murphys are easily a better band, I found Everybody Out more enjoyable live; they definitely benefited from having a fewer number of instruments being played at one time. The simplicity of their music, compared to the complexity of the Dropkick Murphys', made it very easy to get into and lost (figuratively) in their set.

The HorrorPops don't really sound anything like the Dropkick Murphys, which confuses me as to why they opened for them. This band-which does fall under the punk rock genre-definitely has its own distinct (psychobilly) style, one that can only be described as bizarre and aesthetically comparable to that of a more flamboyant (and punk rock oriented) Panic! at the Disco.

So while the Dropkick Murphy's set lacked, the two bands that opened for them helped compensate for this shortcoming.

I still highly recommend checking out their new album, for I found this show to be an inaccurate representation of how good the band truly is.