Dropkick Murphys – On The Road With The Dropkick Murphys [DVD]

Celtic punk rockers Dropkick Murphys have been talking about a DVD for the past couple years now, and here it is finally. On The Road With The Dropkick Murphys brings you over four hours of footage profiling one of the most unique bands in the punk scene today.

The first section we come up to is the Live On St. Patrick’s Day part. This footage is the show that was recorded for the band’s 2002 release, Live On St. Patrick’s Day. It’s nice to finally see the actual performance after falling in love with the CD when it was first released. And it’s a nice example of what the band can do live.

Next you find the mini-documentary, 65 Days Of Hell, which portrays the band crossing America with the Vans Warped Tour. They have snippets of the band playing in almost of the stops of the tour and has the band just messing around. The part that stands out the most from that is seeing them set up a party to celebrate the 4th Of July while they are in Vancouver, British Columbia (Canada). The drunkenness to follow provides many minutes of laughter.

The biggest section of them all comes next, and that’s the Behind The Scenes section. This is exactly what it sounds like, just the band messing around wherever they are. They test out the butt cleanser that comes Japanese toilets, Ken Casey creates a Japanese choir with some fans, they cross the border into Russia and get a flare shot at them, Al Barr and Ken Casey play slaps constantly, Roger Miret dresses up as a girl and replaces Stephanie Dougherty sing The Dirty Glass on Halloween in Calgary to the band’s surprise and you can’t forget James Lynch’s fruit town. Behind The Scenes also features many interviews and live performances from the band (and even one from the Angry Roadies!!). At times, this does seem to go on for quite some time and you find yourself wondering when it will end; but its still very amusing, I just wouldn’t try to watch it all in one sitting.

Next is Black And Gold, which is a mini-documentary of the band’s performance at the Boston Bruins game on November 15th, 2003. After that we get to see all 7 of the band’s music videos; everything from Barroom Hero to Spicy McHaggis Jig to Walk Away, they are all there for your viewing pleasure. The final section is the Labor Day Documentary, this documentary shows the band’s effort to help out union workers and support workers on strikes. This section is probably my least favorite, simply because it is slightly boring to me. But it does help you see into the workings of the band and shows that they really do believe in what they say.

The DVD is very enjoyable and introduces you to the band in more detail then you could ever know before. Any fan will love it, but it will take a couple views to really catch it all.