Two representatives from IATU showed at Columbus’ LC Pavilion to catch four HOT acts that fall under the irish/bluegrass punk umbrella.

I, Ryan, spent the bulk of the five hours indoors at the LC enjoying the incredible bill of The Mahones, Old Man Markley, Frank Turner and the Sleeping Souls and Dropkick Murphys.

Dropkick put on one of the more enjoyable headlining sets I’ve seen this year. The room was ridden with booze, kilts, testosterone, and jovial drunkenness with camaraderie binding together the whole package. There was just something something epic about seeing that bagpipe player march onstage, silhouetted against the backing lights during the band’s grand “For Boston” entry. Suffice to say each song was upbeat, catchy, and spot on. Around 20 songs made up the main set, and the band came back for a five song encore, during which much of the audience was invited to party onstage during an AC/DC cover. Now THAT’S rad! Other highlights included “Rose Tattoo” and the true set opener “The Boys Are Back,” along with their classics like “I’m Shipping Up To Boston.”

The openers kicked off with a bang with The Mahones – Finny McConnell has quite the grit to his voice, and with his fedora on top of his bright red hair, he just looks the part of an irish punk veteran. The band played cuts from their whole discography, including the notable “Shakespeare Road” from Angels and Devils. Old Man Markley crowded the stage soon after with their bluegrass punk. Armed with a bass whose body is a washtub, a mic’ed washboard, an autoharp, and the usual suspects that a punk band would play, OMM brought the house down. They were a fun band to watch, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen a guy play the washboard more enthusiastically in my life. The final opener, Frank Turner, had a lot of fans in the house that were present just to see him. I felt least connected to his set, but his grit and love of audience participation kept everyone’s spirits high. I can see why he has a huge fanbase.