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Dropkick Murphys epitomize Irish punk

Gusheads: 4 out of 4

Release date: March 9

Finally, an on-the-road style documentary of a hard working, hard-playing rock band has been released that doesn‚t end up going stale before the end of the first hour. The Dropkick Murphys‚ "On the Road with the Dropkick Murphys," which will be released March 9, contains more than four hours of visual and audio, Irish-infused, punk-rock fun.

The DVD contains footage from their trek across the United States as part of the Warped Tour, their ventures into Europe, their three-day St. Patrick‚s Day performance at the Avalon Ballroom in Boston, behind the scenes footage, a Labor Day tribute to unions and a complete collection of all the group‚s music videos.

Unlike most other live and "on-the-road" videos put out by bands that mostly show the group messing around and destroying their dressing rooms (see also: the "Pantera 3: Watch It Go" video), Dropkick Murphys‚ "On the Road with the Dropkick Murphys" is actually an all-encompassing work that is quite literally a documentary of the group. Too many releases intended to be like this fall short.

Tickets for the group‚s past St. Patrick‚s Day performances in Boston have repeatedly sold out, even when they perform three days in a row with two sets each day. So for anyone who wasn‚t able to go last year or won‚t be able to attend this one either, the DVD features last year‚s St. Patrick‚s performances edited together to produce a really well-done live show video. The track list contained 22 of the group‚s well-known songs, and the audio was well recorded.

Even if a person is watching the Dropkick Murphys for the first time or isn‚t completely savvy to all the songs, the beautiful part about the group is they write songs that are easy to follow along with. Even a critic with only passing familiarity to the group and having only heard a handful of their songs (i.e. yours truly) can find themselves unknowingly singing along in their subconscious.

Add this feature to a mix of hard rock, old-school punk and traditional Irish folk, and the end result is a thoroughly enjoyable DVD. And to think, this DVD contains four hours of it in live and studio form.

And for those of us who have a hard time deciphering the lyrics from the live set (they sing with thick Irish accents, after all), that‚s where the original music videos come into play. This portion of the DVD also features the video for the song "Spicy McHaggis Jig," which is written about the group‚s bagpipe player Spicy McHaggis and how he always sees the inner beauty of full-figured women.

When I first heard the name Spicy McHaggis, I wondered if it was a new sandwich being offered by McDonald‚s on St. Patrick‚s Day ˜ oven roasted slabs of rich, thick haggis between two sesame-seed buns.

Not only is the music-related footage excellent but also there are plenty of candid moments with the band members, especially bassist Ken Casey, who explains the group‚s affiliation with labor unions and their deep admiration for the working class and support of their ongoing struggles for better conditions and pay. Songs like "Boys On the Docks," "Worker‚s Song," "Buried Alive" and "10 Years of Service" are musical tributes of the group‚s support to the unions.

So the bottom line: Virtually every aspect of the DVD is excellent and well worth the average retail sale price of $13.99. But the best feature of this DVD is its ability to reaffirm a fan‚s faith in the Dropkick Murphys and its ability to lure in and make new fans out of those who are seeing and hearing the group for the first time.

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