Images: Dropkick Murphys, Swingin’ Utters October 14, 2011 at the Hard Rock Pool

A pool show in mid-October is probably a pretty strange concept to most of the country. But with much of America already deep into sweater weather, the crowd at Friday’s Dropkick Murphys/Swingin’ Utters show at the Hard Rock’s pool was still in shorts-and-a-t-shirt summer mode. And while swimming was prohibited while the band was playing, it was certainly tempting as the sardine-packed crowd made things even warmer with passionate singalongs and swaying through the Celtic-influenced punk band’s 20+ song set.

Like many punk bands that make it big outside of the smaller community, Dropkick can be divisive, separating some into new and old song fan camps, but I doubt anyone can find something negative to say about how their live show has progressed. Al Barr is one of the most dynamic frontmen in the punk rock scene, and he seemed to revel in the smaller-than-usual stage his band played on that night. The last two Dropkick shows in Vegas found them on the large Fremont East stage for Punk Rock Bowling and the larger Joint inside the Hard Rock, but because the Joint was occupied by rapper 50 Cent, the band got a chance to be more intimate with their fans. Barr spent the band’s set at the edge of the floor subwoofers, sending hi-fives back as far as he could and extending his mic into a mass of fans eager to sing every word.

I was curious to see how the crowd was going to react to openers Swingin’ Utters. The band is a legend to anyone who grew up with punk in the 90s due to a series of excellent releases on Fat Wreck and a slew of comp appearances, but they’re much less known to mainstream audiences. Dropkick fans are notoriously (and sometimes singularly) passionate about their favorite band and I was slightly worried that patience wouldn’t hold out through the Utters’ 45 minute set. I was more than happy to find out I was wrong, as the Utters quickly won over the crowd and chants calling for Dropkick to take the stage early morphed into cheers for the California punks minutes into the band’s set. And for good reason, the band hasn’t lost a step in all these years, powering through songs new and old while frontman Johnny Peebucks bounded around the stage, knocking over any mic stand that dared get into his way.

-Emily Matview | https://www.flickr.com/photos/holdfastnow/