If you had told me a fortnight ago that I'd be sitting at my desk on the 20th April, wondering if an erupting volcano had prevented the Dropkick Murphys from arriving in Belfast I'd probably have backed away slowly and pointed at you.
Thankfully though, come 8pm the Mandela hall was jammed with the usual mob of skanking skinnies, far-too-drunk underagers and impossibly wet pit-junkies. It was good to be back after what had seemed like a cold, dark and dull winter.
Face to Face opened the show with unexpected energy. The vintage California 4-piece tore without hesitation through a half hour set of old and new material, including Guitar Hero 5 anthem 'Disconnected'. This band, long considered the 'Anvil' of punk rock, showed no signs of age as they punched out anthem after drunken singalong. It's nothing new or revolutionary, but it certainly hits all the right notes. If Agnostic Front and Bouncings Souls had a lovechild, it would play this in the car with the windows down.
If there's one thing that can be said for the Dropkick Murphys, they sure as hell know how to throw a party. From the ferocious opening fightsong 'For Boston', through to the stage-laden singalong 'Kiss Me, I'm Shitfaced' the band barely stop for breath. It's a formula that has been tried and tested in cities and towns the world over... and for me, that seems to be the problem.
The ageing Celtic-Punkers raise their well rehearsed and undeniably rowdy version of hell on the Mandela Hall, and an audience half their age lap it up with enthusiasm. But I'm left feeling a little let down. The modern-day Dropkick Murphys pretend to be a punk band in the same way that Twilight pretends to be a novel. To the young and ill informed, it's a great experience, and one they are most welcome to. But the knowledge that there are so many fresh and exciting bands passing through Belfast and playing in front of 30 people is just too large a pill to swallow. The next generation is being routinely ignored by the masses in favour of the slightly corny, safe alternative.
And that is the death knell of any local music scene.
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