MUSIC New Dropkick Murphys album out today

New Dropkick Murphys CD ‘Live on Landsdown’ out today


David Faulkner

It’s hard to believe, but rocking-and-rolling Irish lovers the Dropkick Murphys have been around for 14 years now. Irish rocking-and-rolling Dropkick Murphys lovers, meanwhile, will be delighted to hear that the Irish-American Celtic punk band’s third album ‘Live on Landsdown’, is due to be released today.
This new release will contain some punked-up renditions of some Irish old-time classics, including ‘Fields Of Athenry’ and ‘Tessie’, as well as some of their own compositions. 
A measure of this band’s talent is the fact that they make their covers sound as if they wrote the tunes themselves, which shows their own originality.
‘Shipping Up To Boston’ (which many may recognise, as it featured in the Scorsese movie ‘The Departed’) and ‘The State Of Massachusetts’ – both their own singles – would be my favorite numbers on the album, along with ‘Flannigan’s Ball’, which is their own version of the Irish classic ‘Lannigan’s Ball’.
This live CD and DVD package was recorded over six nights and seven shows in March 2009. The listener/viewer really gets the feeling of a Dropkick Murphys live-show experience in his or her own home.
They are coming to tour Ireland on April 20, when they will play in Belfast at St George’s Market. On April 21 they’ll play in Cork’s Savoy Theatre, and finally they’ll appear in the Olympia Theatre in Dublin on April 22.
If you’re planning to go to any of the gigs, you should get a hold of ‘Live on Landsdown’ to get in the mood. If not, have a listen to find out what you’re missing.

David Faulkner is a Transition Year student at St Gerald’s College in Castlebar.