Val Air Ballroom, Des Moines, Iowa. Dropkick Murphys on a cold Wednesday night in November. The Val Air is a relic from the golden era of swing bands. After sitting vacant for a few years, the old gal was purchased by a couple entrepreneurs and developed into a great venue for small and mid sized artists.
Tom and I procurred some of Ray Kroc’s finest, and a couple bottles of ale for the 90 minute ride to Des Moines. We arrived early and proceeded to find the Irish spirit that resides in spirits. The first band, Everybody Out was the best of the evening, including the DKM’s. They had that stuff that you can’t manufacuture – hard edged, go-fer-broke youth. The made me two step and participate in the mosh pit “wall of death”.
Angel City Outcasts was the 2nd band. IMO, posers who couldn’t make up their mind if they were pretendting to be the Killers, or a So Cal rock band. Nothing that moved me, but maybe it was just a bad night for them.
The DKM’s would have been outstanding if they hadn’t been so loud that there was no definition to their sound. All the subtleties of the Celtic instrumentation were lost in the stew of bass, guitars and drums. Pity, that.
We found a place called Kelly’s or Murphies, had one for the road and headed back west. Sometimes I wish I lived in the damn city.
