Ken Casey, lead singer of the punk-rock band Dropkick Murphys, leapt onto the runway of the Mission Ballroom, in Denver, Colorado, on March 1. Slapping palms and pumping fists with crowd-surfing fans in the audience, he roared out a new version of the classic Irish resistance ballad, “Men Behind the Wire”.
Casey’s new lyrics referenced Minneapolis and the ravages of US President Donald Trump’s masked paramilitary Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol goons who have murdered US citizens this year.
The Murphys also blasted out their own version of the antiwar classic, “Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ye” and their original songs, “Citizen ICE”, “First Class Loser”, and “Who’ll Stand With Us?” The songs are working-class, solidarity-minded condemnations of Trump’s “Gestapo”, the US-Israeli war on Iran and Trump himself.
Among the crowd-surfers was a young man in a wheelchair who repeated his flying journey to the stage twice. Casey gave him a hug each time and exhorted the crowd: “This is the bravest guy here tonight and I hope we can all stay as brave as him!”
Later, Casey announced a “women-only mosh pit” for one song, “Because they are the toughest of us all!”
The set list was made up of songs from the Boston band’s recent album, For the People, and from their 30-year-deep back catalogue of Irish-inflected punk rock anthems. The 3000-strong audience in the packed ballroom cheered and sang along, loving it all.
The band’s piper Campbell Webster skirled on Scottish war-pipes and amplified Irish uileann pipes, while a battle line of fearless musicians — guitarists James Lynch, Tim Brennan, Jeff DaRosa, Casey on bass and Matt Kelly on drums — maintained the joyous oceanic thunder.
The Aggrolites and Haywire opened the show with politically-rousing reggae and hip-hop.
The band performed in embattled Minneapolis the following week and then returned to their hometown Boston for Saint Patrick’s Day shows. Their North American tour will be followed by a European tour commencing later this year.
“Who’ll Stand With Us?”
Throughout centuries in every country
We faced the wrath and felt the pain
Of the tyrant's sword or the henchman's boot
For another rich man's gain
In the endless quest for wealth and power
They stomp us down with great disdain
Beneath the false god's banner
In the name of all that's vain
…Through crime and crusade, our labour, it's been stolen
We've been robbed of our freedom, we've been held down and beholden
To the bosses and the bankers, who never gave their share
Of any blood, of any sweat, of any tears
…Who'll stand with us?
Don't tell us everything is fine
Who'll stand with us?
Because this treatment is a crime
The working people fuel the engine
While you yank the chain
We fight the wars and build the buildings
For someone else's gain
…So, tell me, who will stand with us?
…And as time rolls on, not a single thing has changed
And the wealth gap's only grown as we all point to blame!
So, tell me, who will stand with us?
[Tour dates at dropkickmurphys.com.]