Dropkick Murphys Concerts Setlist

Dropkick Murphys is an American punk band. They were formed in 1996 in Quincy, Massachusetts. The founding members were lead vocalist Mike McColgan (born in Boston, Massachusetts), bassist and vocalist Keny Casey (born in 1959 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts), guitarist Rick Barton (1967, Boston, Massachusetts), and drummer Jeff Erna.

The four original members started playing together in the basement of their friend’s barbershop in 1996. They named their new punk band after American WWE star John E. "Dropkick" Murphy, By the next year, in 1997, they got their first big break. The fellow Massachusettsan punk band “The Mighty Mighty Bosstones'” tour was opened by a Dropkick Murphys concert at each stop.

The Dropkick Murphys also started to record demo tapes, and kept doing Dropkick Murphy concerts. As a result, they got signed by the indie punk label Hellcat Records in 1997. Their debut album, “Do or Die”, came out in January 1998. It never became a commercial success. Also, it’s the only one of the Celtic punk band’s records with Mike McColgan on the lead vocals, who left the band in 1998. However, it wasn’t because of their debut's lack of sales - according to the man himself, McColgan quit so he could follow in the footsteps of his uncle and become a firefighter… The band later disputed that. They hired Al Barr as their new lead singer.

Their second album, “The Gang's All Here” from March 1999 was the first one to break into the Billboard 200, it peaked at the #184 spot. Since then, they released 9 more full studio albums, thus they have 11 in total. Their best selling one so far has been their 5th one, “The Warrior’s Code”, which came out in June 2005 and sold around half a million copies worldwide. Meanwhile, their the new Dropkick Murphys album was released in September 2022, with the title “This Machine Still Kills Fascists”.

The Dropkick Murphys’ biggest hits to date are “Worker’s Song” (2003), “I'm Shipping Up to Boston” (2005), “The State Of Massachusetts” (2007), and “Rose Tattoo” (2013). Their line-up has changed a lot over the years. The only constant member has been their co-founder, bassist and singer Ken Casey. The rest of the current line-up consists of lead vocalists Al Barr, drummer Matt Kelly, rhythm guitarist James Lynch, keyboardist and accordion player Tim Brennan, and guitarist and banjo player Jeff DaRosa.