Date: September 10th
Opening Band: The Danny Burns Band

Whenever the Young Dubliners make it into town, I make an attempt to see them live because not only are they are great band and fun to see, but they are some of the nicest guys in the business!

I missed the Young Dubs last year when they came to town because it was the same day as The Specials concert. Their newest album Nine, obviously their 9th full-length album, has been out for awhile now so I was itching to hear some of these tunes live. The band didn’t disappoint!

I arrived a little bit after the doors and I was the first person inside the club. Whatever the case, the Celtic punk/rock scene decided to stay home that night and there was only a small group for the show. I feel bad for bands that work so hard, sell out other clubs and then come play New York. Then just a few people decide to turn up because it’s not fucking St Patrick’s Day. If you were a fan of the music, you’d show up any time! I’m not sure if the middle of the week, in Brooklyn, had anything to do with it but whatever, it is what it is and the band gave it 100% to the people that were there. I’m sure the band will think of it as small party with their closest friends. That’s how I see it sometimes. But enough of that.

The Danny Burns Band (http://www.dannyburnsband.com/) were the opener and played for about 40 minutes. Danny Burns sports a rockabilly style hairdo, long bushy beard and has a great voice to boot. I wanted to scream out that he’s got a big hole in his guitar but I’m pretty sure he knows. The style of music is a mixture of rock, folk, celtic and a bit of Americana. I didn’t know anything by Danny but I’ll definitely be checking out some of his music online now that I know who he is.

The Young Dubliners took the stage at 10ish and played a bunch of new stuff as well as older material as well. The guys sounded great and so did the new songs. Even if Celtic Rock isn’t your thing, it’s safe to say you’d still appreciate the Young Dubs’s music. Fun, energetic and makes you want to dance like a buffoon.

The band opened up with “Abhainn Mor” and then went into “We The Mighty.” I believe those two are the only ones I’ve heard from the new album live before that night. The set was focused on the album of Nine, which the band was supporting. They played the majority of the album like “Say Anything” (my favorite), “Seeds of Sorrow,” “Rain,” “Fall,” and “Up in the Air.” Pretty much all the songs I wanted to hear from Nine.

In between the new songs, they play older stuff like “Bodhran,” “Brown Dog,” “Come Back Home,” and their take of “The Leaving of Liverpool.” The second half was more the covers & traditionals the band has done over the years. Towards the end Chas rocked a fiddle solo and gave the rest of the band a breather. I would have liked to have heard “Touch the Sky” or “Change the World.” Out of all the shows I’ve seen of the Young Dubs, I don’t think I heard “Change the World.” I’ll have to request that next time they are in town. The end of the set, they played “Rosie,” which is the song they played on Jimmy Kimmel Live a few years back and ended the set with “Follow Me Up To Carlow.” I always love their take of that one out of all the Irish rock/punk bands that do that.

They came back for the encore and ended up playing “Apart,” which I don’t know if I’ve heard that one live yet. The final song of the evening was “Rocky Road to Dublin” and sadly, I had to skip out on that song since it was getting really late and didn’t want to miss the train. It seems most of my show-going experiences is dictated by mass transit lately but that’s the way it goes. Anyway, the band was great like always and can’t wait for them to come back to the area again!

Here are some photos from the evening. More will be posted on SkaPunkPhotos.com soon.

The Danny Burns Band

The Young Dubliners