Concert Review: Dropkick Murphys, The Aggrolites, Haywire, and Slugger at Old Forester’s Paristown Hall on March 8, 2026

First off, a huge thank you to C. Michael Stewart for allowing LEO Weekly to use his photographs from the show. He is unquestionably one of the best photographers out there, local or otherwise, and you really owe it to yourself to check out his website and scroll through his work. And he is for hire!

cmichaelsphotos.com

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My philosophy: If you ever see a large group of people wearing Scally caps, follow them. You’ll either end up at an Irish pub or a Dropkick Murphys show. Either way it’s a win-win situation.

It’s kind of hard to believe the Dropkick Murphys are celebrating their 30th year as a band. Though they’ve had numerous member changes over the years, leaving only Ken Casey as the sole original member (he started out as the bassist and has since switched to lead vocals), they are still going strong. And not only are they touring for their 30th anniversary, but also for their thirteenth studio album, For The People, and their annual St. Patrick’s Day tour that ends with a big show on St. Patty’s Day in their hometown of Boston, MA. And this year, Louisville was lucky enough once again to be a stop on their way back home. And we returned the favor by packing Paristown Hall with a close-to-sellout crowd.

Ken Casey is probably the most non-rock star rock star out there. He doesn’t look like, dress like, or act like your typical frontman of a major band. Clad in a Happy Gilmore Boston Bruins jersey (yes, that Happy Gilmore), black cargo pants, and with an ever-present big Irish smile on his face, Casey seemed to take great delight in shaking hands and fist-bumping anyone in the crowd whose hand he could reach during their set. Although a vertebral disc injury sustained in 2018 prevents him from getting quite as active as he used to, he still prowled the stage and sang every word to every song, often offering the mic to audience members near the stage to sing a few words along with him.

And the band itself has grown from a 4-piece in the early days to a full 7-piece band that features almost original member Matt Kelly on drums, (he joined a year after the band was founded), three guitarists: Tim Brennan (who also plays tin whistle, accordion, and piano – and whom I had the pleasure of interviewing for LEO Weekly back in 2023), Jeff DaRosa (who also handles banjo and mandolin), and James Lynch, along with bassist Kevin Rheault, and Campbell Webster on bagpipes, violin, and Uilleann pipes, (yes, amplified bagpipes!)

Playing more than 20 songs that spanned their entire career during their hour-and-a-half set, the band kept the crowd moving. Not necessarily by way of mosh pit, though, because hey, most of us there were older guys and gals, and we had our feel of all that back when the band was still fairly new. Not to say that there wasn’t moshing during their set, just not to the extent you’d expect. But the setlist, damn! They played song after song that I was hoping to hear. From show opener “The State of Massachusetts,” “The Gang’s All Here,” “10 Years of Service,” my personal favorite track “Barroom Hero,” “Finnegan’s Wake,” to newer tracks “Who’ll Stand With Us,” “Citizen I.C.E.,” in which Haywire vocalist Austin Sparkman came out to co-sing, and a cover of the AC/DC classic “It’s a Long Way to the Top (If You Wanna Rock ‘n’ Roll)” in which bassist Kevin Rheault took on lead vocals, to crowd favorites “Rose Tattoo” and “I’m Shipping Up to Boston,” the set just didn’t let up! And I have to give them props for being so punctual. Their set literally started at exactly 9:30, and they finished up with new track “The Big Man” at almost exactly 11:00.

One of the biggest highlights of the show came a bit by accident. At one point, Ken Casey did a short rant about Trump, MAGA, and billionaires. It wasn’t a lengthy or even extremely focused rant, more along the lines of “Fuck them!” But apparently it was enough to get a few Trump-loving fans in the crowd heading for the doors, as Casey pointed out from the stage before telling them, “Goodbye and good riddance. Don’t let the door hit you in the ass on your way out!” Which begs the question, who did these people think they were going to see anyway? Have they never read their lyrics or paid attention to all the activism the band is involved in? Dropkick Murphys have always been vehemently pro-Union, pro-working man, and have always taken a very liberal stance on politics, which their lyrics and actions have reflected since day one. So I’m not sure what those people who left after the comments were expecting at a Dropkick Murphys show, but maybe read up a little on the band you want to see before buying the ticket next time.

Slugger, who surprisingly aren’t from Louisville (from Chico, California – however, they do use a mockup of the Louisville Slugger logo for their own), opened the show with a 30-minute set of their brand of hardcore street punk/Oi. This was a rather intimidating-looking and sounding band that most likely doesn’t take a lot of shit from anyone. I was completely unfamiliar with the band, but I look forward to discovering their music after their impressive set. And yes, they did in fact take a few band photos in front of the giant bat at the Louisville Slugger Museum.

Boston hardcore band Haywire (A.K.A. Haywire 617), who are practically a local band at this point, having played here at least four other times in the past year alone (Louder Than Life, LDB Fest, a pre-LTL show at the skate park, and a headlining show at Camp Spaceman), followed Slugger. So Louisville is obviously quite familiar with Haywire, and the pit during their all-too-short half-hour set reflected that, exploding into the wildest of the night by far. Vocalist Austin Sparkman’s energy is relentless, making this a must-see band. And if you missed them any of the multiple times they’ve played here, don’t worry, they’re already confirmed for Louder Than Life 2026!

Long-running L.A. reggae/ska band The Aggrolites chilled the crowd out (in a good way) during their 45-minute set before the Dropkick Murphys came out and amped everyone up again. Being only vaguely familiar with them, I was surprised to hear how much soul influence their music had. Ska bands generally tend to get boring to me pretty quickly, but The Aggrolites kept things interesting their entire set with a lot of catchy tunes, skilled crowd-work in getting everyone to sing along, putting a lot of energy behind their performance, and throwing in a few well-known covers songs such as Frankie Valli’s “Can’t Take My Eyes Off You,” and reworking the Nancy Sinatra hit “These Boots Are Made For Walkin’” into a funky reggae number, which they closed with.

After a rather lengthy intermission, the Dropkick Murphys came out and did what they do best, but you already read that part.

And word has it that Paristown Hall is still cleaning up all the lost Scally caps.

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Photo gallery (courtesy of C. Michael Stewart)

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This article appears in March 1-24, 2026.

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