Dropkick Murphys
House of Blues
February 18, 2026
“What Freud said about the Irish is: We’re the only people who are impervious to psychoanalysis.”
– Colin Sullivan, The Departed
I have no idea if Freud actually said that, but the quote is relevant to Dropkick Murphys in two ways. First, it’s from the The Departed, the movie that gave DM a wider (outside of Boston) audience. Second, it alludes to the proudly Irish band’s Celtic-punk origins. Whether any of its members have actually been to therapy, I couldn’t say.
What I *can* say is that Dropkick Murphys have never been a band to shy away from their feelings. And the band, fronted by sole remaining founding member* Ken Casey**, has only become more vocal in their support of the working class. Last night’s show at House of Blues, drew from their latest release, For the People. The album features tracks like “Who’ll Stand With Us?” — celebrating those who “fight wars and build buildings for someone else’s gain” — and “Sirens.” The latter calling out the the billionaire who profits “while the worker bleeds.”
Stepping out in front of a crowd already roiling from openers Slugger, Haywire, and the Aggrolites, Casey and company opened with “Deeds Not Words.” The song, about a “liar and a traitor” getting his comeuppance, was released on 2011’s Going Out in Style, but it certainly felt timely.
“The State of Massachusetts,” a play on the fact MA is actually a commonwealth, albeit one also beset by addiction problems. The Murphys tore through two more songs (“The Gang’s All Here” and “The Boys Are Back”) before Casey even addressed the audience. He started by welcoming the enthusiastic HOB crowd to their 30th birthday party. Then complimented those who brought their kids for keeping the average age of the audience down.
Casey’s banter with the boisterous audience, while occasionally pointed, was rarely anything but good-natured. Because while it’s easy for a show to slide into pure polemic, a Dropkick Murphys gig is, above all, a hell of a good time.
The band then threw several bones to their die-hard fans by playing a trifecta of songs from their 1998 debut, Do or Die. By my estimation, “Boys on the Docks” got the most enthusiastic reaction.
But the Murphys’ working class bona fides were never in question last night. Casey reminded the crowd, in his inimitable Boston accent, that they’ve had the same blue collar values for 30 years. This served as prelude to a frenetic “Who’ll Stand With Us,” followed shortly thereafter by “The Green Fields of France,” a song about an Irish kid killed in WWI, and dedicated to the veterans in the audience.
But last night’s standout was a blistering “Citizen I.C.E.” (repurposed from “Citizen C.I.A.” from The Warrior’s Code). It was one of the few occasions where Casey’s affable demeanor fell away, as he excoriated those “too scared to join the military” and “too dumb to be a cop.”
And for the women in the audience (a not insignificant number), Casey declared a “ladies-only pit” for crowd favorite “Rose Tattoo” Speaking of crowd favorites, I’m sure I wasn’t the only oldie who appreciated them eschewing the usual will-they-or-won’t-they encore charade before closing out with “Shipping Off to Boston” and “The Big Man” (dedicated to Pennywise’s Fletcher Dragge).
I’m old enough to remember people opining that the election of George W. Bush would lead to a punk resurgence, a la the Reagan ’80s. That didn’t really materialize, and nothing against dedicated anti-fascist smaller acts (including Slugger, one of last night’s openers), but Dropkick Murphys have really been the highest profile punk outfit leading the charge. I’m grateful for it, even if I can’t bring myself to say, “Go Sox.”
*It should be noted that current members Matt Kelly (drums), James Lynch, and Tim Brennan have been with the band for over 20 years.
**Not be confused with this guy.
Personal Bias: I last saw Dropkick Murphys in 2012, when Al Barr was still singing (he’s been on hiatus since 2022). They haven’t slowed down much, even if I mostly hung around edges of the pit.
The Crowd: About what you’d expect, except for the guy and two girls wearing fishnets. The hell?
Overheard In The Crowd: [to me]: “Did you say you wanted *two* shirts?”
Random Notebook Dump: “Is that dude in a banana costume?”
SETLIST
Deeds Not Words
The State of Massachusetts
The Gang’s All Here
The Boys Are Back
Johnny, I Hardly Knew Ya
Gonna Be a Blackout Tonight
James Connolly (Black 47 cover)
God Willing
Caught in a Jar
Boys on the Docks
Never Alone
Sirens
Who’ll Stand With Us?
School Days Over (Ewan MacColl cover)
The Green Fields of France (Eric Bogle cover)
Barroom Hero
Citizen C.I.A. (Citizen I.C.E. version)
The Bonny (Gerry Cinnamon cover)
Finnegan’s Wake (traditional)
Rose Tattoo
Out of Our Heads
Worker’s Song
I’m Shipping Up to Boston
The Big Man
