As expected, the Real McKenzies really know how to party for St. Patrick’s Day. They couldn’t wait to get things rolling on a night of “Pour Decisions” on the “Mainland.” So the long standing Vancouver based bagpipe powered Celtic Rockers tore up a full Bo Diddly’s March 15 for a rambunctious crowd and another ferocious mosh pit.
They began with a semi-a cappella version of “Row, Row You Bastards,” which had the rest of the crown packed shoulder to shoulder in front of the stage, singing gleefully along.
They crashed into “I Do What I Want,” from the new CD “Westwinds” and took off from there.
They played a Robbie Burns song and a lot from their back catalogue and a few from the new CD. I missed the new single “My Luck Is So Bad,” though. The audience knew every word and shouted along, thrashing and crahsing into each other in the mosh pit.
One of their most popular songs, “Mainland” came midway though a loud sweaty and chaotic set, as was “Pour Decisions,” which again, had everyone singing along. A girl was knocked down in the middle of the mosh pit, and as a few people in the audience helped up, started shouting at someone, which may have been the catlalyst for a fight in front of the stage near the end of the show.
Another girl danced on the side of the stage and inched her way to the front. McKenzie bumped her off the stage at first, then flashed her, proving Scotsmen don’t wear anything beneath their kilts (At least some of them.) , then invitied her to the front of the stage and got her to sing with him.
They crashed into crowd favourite “Nessie Hunter” which McKenzie introduced by saying “I ’m going to take you to Edinburgh.”
Charismatic frontman Paul McKenzie tried to break up a fight in fornt of the stage by joking, “put her in irons and take her to the dungeon,” then threatened to come into the crowd and break it up himself. After breaking up the fight, they officially ended a night of Celtic style debacuhery, sweaty punk rock and endless energy by blasting into another crowd favourite “Drink Some More,” which had most of the people in the room singing along.
While I missed the Lethbridge Firefighters Pipes and Drums at the very beginning of the show, I caught Montreal’s East End Radicals’ opening set. They put on an energetic set of whoa,whoam whoa choruses, originals and covers of a variety of Celtic punk standards from the likes of the Pogues and brought forth the spirit of the Clash and Rancid which had a lot of people moshing in front of the stage.
— By Richard Amery, L.A. Beat editor
