One of my other favourite bands, the Mahones, blew black into Lethbridge, March 9, with a rollicking set of upbeat Celtic -punk getting people into the St. Patrick’s Day spirit a week early at the Slice.
They “took no prisoners” during their incendiary set of high energy songs mostly about drinking whiskey, including crowd favourites like “Drunken Night in Dublin,”“ Down the Boozer,” “Whiskey Devils,” and a new song from their latest CD “Black Irish” outlining the Mahones’ 20 year history “Ghost of A Whiskey Devils.” As well they played one of my favourites from “Take No Prisoners,” called “Nancy Whiskey.”
Frontman Finny McConnell beamed and bounced all over the stage, playing Who meets Ramones style guitar riffs, slowed things just a bit, to dedicate another new song “Girl With The Galway Eyes,” to his wife Katie, who weaved and writhed all over the stage tearing it up on the accordion, squeezing a wide variety of sounds from her instrument.
They followed that up with a cover of the Pogues’ “Dirty Ol Town,” before picking up the tempo again with “Is This Bar Open Tomorrow.”
They also had a crack mandolin player, Eric, adding to the manic Celtic punk feel.
While the band deserved a sold our show rather than the 30-40 people there, the ones there were in the mood to carouse.
So the Mahones didn’t slow down in the second set, blasting into “Paint the Town Red,” which McConnell prefaced by saying it was in the movie “The Fighter.”
A couple other old favourites “Draggin’ The Days” and “Star of the County Down,” were immediate second set highlights as was a cover of the Undertones’ “Teenage Kicks.”
And one of the new CDs’ highlights, a Celtic punk anthem, “ Give it All You Got (or Forget About It.)” were highlights as was “Queen and Tequila,” and “Drunken Lazy Bastard,” which ended the show.
The show was all good, with tight energy and an outstanding all round.
