Show Recap: Street Dogs @ Marquis

Good o' Punk Rawk! what a night it was for punks in Denver with the mighty Street Dogs coming to town. According to lead singer, Mike McColgan, the Street Dogs were up in Fort Collins (Blasting Room) to record their 5th full-length record. They decided to play a few shows while in town and joined up with local punk band Reno Divorce and a sellout crowd at the Marquis Theater.

I personally have seen the Street Dogs a few times and didn't think they had that great of a following out here so i was expecting a small turnout, but i was wrong. I dragged my buddy Thomas to the show, he's never really been to any shows let alone punk or hardcore so that was a fun experience for both of us. We drank some PBR, and headed into the pit to get the best view of the band (since we're both under 6'). Street Dogs did not disappoint.

If you don't know the Street Dogs i'll give you a little history lesson. Back in the 90's street punk / oi punk / gutter punk was starting to get really popular lead by bands like Rancid, Swingin' Utters, One Man Army, The Business and so on. Around 1998 the Dropkick Murphys arrived on Hellcat Records with their brand of Irish punk including bag-pipes and everything irish. They played punk songs and beer drinking songs, folk songs and everything you'd expect from an Irish band. Their lead singer was Mike McColgan, who grew up in Boston, and he was responsible for some of the best Dropkick Murphys songs ever written. Unfortunately Mike left the band to be a fire fighter in Boston, and was replaced with Al Barr (Bruisers). The Murphys went on to major success, playing huge shows, headlining Warped Tour, playing with the Red Sox at the World Series, being on MTV and whatnot.

The Murphys were still good, but not as authentic feeling as they were when Mike was the lead singer. AFter a few years Mike apparently wanted to get back to music and started a new band, Street Dogs, with the same middle-class, hard working, feel as the Murphys but no bag-pipes. Since their inception in 2002 the Street Dogs have released 4 full-length records and have toured almost non-stop.

I was really excited to bring along Thomas to this show because it would be entertaining even for someone who had never really listened to the band. the songs are catchy and easy to sing along with, and the energy from both the band and the crowd is unmatched by a lot of hardcore bands these days. The show started pretty late so it was 11p by the time the Dogs got started, opening with Not Without a Purpose, Not Without a Fight. They played most of the "hits" like You Alone, In Defense of Dorchester, Back To the World and even played some of the slower sing along songs like Tobey's Got a Drinking Problem, and 2 Angry Kids. Final Transmission was probably the song of the night. I was expecting to hear Strike a Blow and Fading American Dream but i think they were holding those for the encore, which we didn't stay for since it was after midnight.

Mike was great, getting the kids to sing along on most of the sings, passing the mic, and at one point he "crowd-surfed" his way back to some of the tables in the venue. From there he preached a little, starting off with "there's a lot to be angry about these days...". a typical punk rock message of uniting together to help each other out. after his speech he "surfed" his way back to the stage. No fights broke out which was impressive considering the amount of people there and the cheap beer. At one point Rick Barton joined the band on stage. Rick was also a member of the original Murphys and wrote a lot of the great songs on Do or Die. He's up in Fort Collins writing with the Street Dogs. All in all it was a great set from Street Dogs, even Thomas was impressed and could understand some of the words.

The other bands that played were Kill City Rebels and Reno Divorce. KCR was good, but just not my style. Reno Divorce is a punk rock band from Denver and i've seen them play a few times as well. They're solid, a band that i could listen to, but never one that i would consider a favorite. The crowd was with them on this night though and it was great to see the support.

Street Dogs performing Not Without a Purpose:

Street Dogs

Tiger Army/Street Dogs @ Ogden review

Last night i saw the Street Dogs and Tiger Army at the Ogden Theatre in Denver. First off, i love the Ogden, its one of my favorite venues, it was the first place i caught a show after i moved to Denver in 2000.



Anyway, the first band of the night was The Static Age. They suck. trust me.



On to the Street Dogs. I love these guys. For fans of Dropkick Murphys and bands the like, you should check these guys out. The Ogden was packed, i'm sure it finally soldout, and i had to be in the pit for the Dogs. It was pretty crazy, Mike McColgan (ex- leadman for the Murphys) came out in true Irish/Boston dress, a long black coat and a beret hat. He's looking pretty old these days, i hate to admit, but he's amazing. Starting with Without a Purpose, Without a Fight the crowd got pumped up. the Dogs blazed through all their hit songs from Strike a Blow, Back to the World, Defense of Dorchester, Tobe's Got A Drinking Problem and Fighter without many breaks. The Street Dogs are a Pro-Union band, anti-war and their songs hold nothing back. One might expect that with such strong views, their shows would turn into a soapbox but thats what makes Mike such a good front man. He makes his points without overstepping.



The crowd participation was great and Mike was climbing all over the place and encouraging the crowd to participate. He could have passed the mic a little more but maybe he has trouble bending over due to age. At one point, before Tobe's Got a Drinking Problem, Mike gave the pit a beer shower, which then caused everyone with a beer to pour into the pit, suffice to say i didn't smell good when i got home. But no matter, the Dogs played for about 40 minutes, covering all songs they should have minus Common People and Mass Deception. They played a few slow ballad type songs to mix it up, all in all, i was very impressed and i'd see them again.



Now on to the headliner, Tiger Army. Let me say that if Isaac hadn't had invited me to this show i don't know if i would have gone. I like Tiger Army, and i've tried for years to really get into them but they never stick. I've seen them before and their shows are always great, they are very energetic and it doesn't hurt that the bass player plays a stand-up bass. Tonite was much the same, they always play ten times faster live, which is great for the people dancing but i think it takes away from the unique sound that is Tiger Army. Nick 13's voice is great but i had a hard time hearing it last night. Also, if you didn't know the songs last night, they might have all sounded the same since the drumbeat is the same 1950's rock/shuffle beat at the same speed for most songs.



On top of that, the new bass player is a tool. don't get me wrong, he was an amazing bass player, but his mic skills were terrible, he only said maybe three different phrases on the mic from "let me hear you Denver" to "is everyone having fun tonite". that got annoying. and he wore sunglasses for the whole set. and Tiger Army did the fake encore thing.



But they were good. And the crowd loved them. I'm surprised that they gotten such a huge following, i remember back in 2000 that nobody really liked them, they just knew that Nick 13 and Davey Havok were buddies. But this place last night went crazy, so that was nice to see. I didn't recognize all of the songs but i know that they played a lot of new songs from their third and fourth albums. Maybe Isaac can give us a set list.



All in all, a good night, it was fun to get out again. Good thing i didn't stay home and watch the Rockies.