Flogging Molly @ Starland Ballroom, Sayreville, NJ
Live Reviews | Sep 17th, 2008
Opening Bands: Love City, Beat Union, Loved Ones
Band Links: link
On September 15, 2008, Michelle and I spent our first anniversary in the best way to celebrate, at a Flogging Molly concert. The concert was being held at Starland Ballroom. I was there in July but it was outside for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones show. This would be the first time I saw a show inside. Good size club and a great sound to the place. I wasn’t crazy about 3 opening bands on a Monday night but hey, I didn’t have to work.
The 3 openers were Love City (Philadephia, PA), Beat Union (Birmingham, England) and The Loved Ones (Philadelphia, PA). Love City was a rock n roll band, and the front man was desperately trying to be Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes. I just couldn’t take them seriously. Neither could the rest of the crowd. After that, England’s Beat Union came up and warmed up the crowd properly. In your face and fast, Beat Union did a brilliant job. I am a big fan of their debut CD “Disconnected” and they played all the songs from that record. The Loved Ones I wasn’t very familiar with but I really enjoyed their set. The crowd had quite a few fans of The Loved Ones in attendance and really showed the support.
Everyone of course was there for Flogging Molly, who really has a substantial fan base these days. I would say it rivals the size of Dropkick Murphys fan base these days. The band came on and played a wide range of songs from their four full-length records and was glad to hear them play a lot of new tracks from “Float;” which came out in March. It was nice to be up front and see the show for once and we had a lot of fun watching the debauchery in the crowd and on stage. Flogging Molly is still one of the best live bands around and if you don’t believe me, get down to a show and see for yourself.
