First of all, the show was amazing. There were two opening bands, one from England who I wasn't the biggest fan of, and one from LA: Old Man Markley.
Described as "punk bluegrass," I've never seen a band have so much fun on stage. They were constantly dancing, jumping, and joking with each other while playing awesome music. I mean, how can a band with a washtub upright base, a washboard, fiddle, banjo, and autoharp not be cool?
After the bands switched out, it was Dropkick Murphys time!
This is the stage as they were setting up. Notice the HUGE organ in the background? The show was at the Tabernacle in Atlanta. Their website explains some of the history, and the reason for the huge organ:
"The Tabernacle building has a rich & storied history. Opened in 1910 as The Broughton Tabernacle; Dr. Leonard Gaston Broughton was the pastor and a physician. Dr. Broughton started the Georgia Baptist Medical Center and nursing school, which began as the Tabernacle infirmary with three beds. The Third Baptist Church was an active congregation with over 4000 members. The congregation relocated during the mid eighties and the building lay vacant until the 1996 Centennial Olympic Games, when it was converted into a House of Blues club."
The concert was amazing. They played a great set and had so much energy for guys that have been playing since the late 90s. My only problem the entire concert was the crowd. Now, going into this, I knew that Dropkick shows are typically described as "drunken brawls," so I knew the crowd was going to be a little rough. However, it seemed like 90% of the people there were just there to mosh. As you can tell from the pictures, we were really close to the stage, right up against the metal barrier. It really bothered me that I had to take my time and energy away from watching the show to constantly look over my shoulder to see if someone was going to run into me or try and crowd surf over me. I respect people's "right" to enjoy a concert however they see fit, however it bugs me that it has to almost ruin my concert experience. Also, I think there should be a limit on how many beers you can consume at a concert.
/soapbox rant
Anyways, after the concert, we went over to the merch table and met Old Man Markley! The band was so nice and excited to meet their fans. I really hope they come near us again, I'd love to see a show where they're headlining.
After getting a bite to eat, and a few hours sleep, we woke up on Tuesday to get.....tattoos! Keegan, Brendan, and I have been talking about getting tattoos together for over a year now, we have just never been in the same place either geographically or financially to get one. We decided while we're in Atlanta with reputable tattoo shops, we'd knock a second item off of my bucket list.
We got our tattoos done at Mystic Owl tattoo in Marietta, GA. The shop was clean, the staff was awesome and totally put our nervousness at ease by joking around with us. The boys got their tattoos done by Mike Bugenhagen, a regular artist and I got mine by Taylor Ann, who was either new or a visiting artist (she's not on their website.) The boys got the Celtic symbol for brother on their right shoulder blades while I got the Celtic symbol for sister on my right foot.
It was a great experience. I expected it to be more painful than it was; it felt more like Taylor was digging something into my foot instead of needles, it's kind of hard to explain. Getting a tattoo has been something I've wanted to do ever since I was little and I'm so glad that I did. I already have plans for my next few ;-)
I must say, it was so nice to play "hooky" from work and take a few days to do something fun. We've all been working so hard lately that we deserved some time to act like we're 20-somethings again. We've decided that if/when we go back to Atlanta to see another show, we're making this a tradition and getting another tattoo.
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