Devil's Dance Floor Flogging Molly @ Rock Café, Praha, 2.7.2008

On July 2, two years after their last Czech gig, Flogging Molly played in Prague again. The Rock Café club was packed, the air getting hotter and thicker by each minute, the anticipation growing with the end of each of the canned songs booming from the loudspeakers. (The Pogues fans could appreciate that the selection included "Thousands Are Sailing" and "Rake at the Gates of Hell".) The band took about forty minutes to appear, by which time the club had turned into a sauna and each sign of movement on the stage was welcomed by ear-shattering whistling and cheering. When the lights finally went dark and the band appeared onstage and immediately burst into "(No More) Paddy's Lament", the crowd erupted and began milling about, dancing and pushing (which gave me a chance to sneak into a cozy gap that opened at the rail at the very front). The first song was a mess, a wall of noise with almost inaudible vocals, but gradually the sound improved. The band put on a great show, Dave King intensively interacting with the audience, making jokes about people in the first rows and gesturing vigorously, Nathen Maxwell running around the stage like a psycho, beating the bass strings with a broken arm in a plaster, Dennis Casey handing refreshing drinks to fans drenched in sweat. After an hour and a half topped by two encores – "Black Friday Rule", half of which was performed only by Dave with his acoustic guitar, giving a taste of what would "Folking Molly" sound like; and madly quick "Seven Deadly Sins" – it was over, the band shook hands with fans, handed them a handful of guitar picks, and the sweat-soaked audience dispersed to catch a breath. And hopefully to do the same again sooner or later. Setlist: (No More) Paddy's Lament, Likes Of You Again, Swagger, Requiem For A Dying Song, Whistles The Wind, Drunken Lullabies, Selfish Man, Tobacco Island, Float, Rebels Of the Sacred Heart, Devil's Dance Floor, Lightning Storm, If I Ever Leave This World Alive, Salty Dog, Within A Mile Of Home, What's Left Of The Flag; encore: Black Friday Rule, Seven Deadly Sins My photos are HERE A Czech review of the gig can be found HERE

text & photos © Zuzana, 2008