Chances are if you’re from Boston or have ever attended a sporting event in Boston, you’ve heard of Dropkick Murphys — even if you don’t know them by name.
The celtic punk band has been around for nearly two decades and their song, “I’m Shipping Up To Boston” is regularly blasted at sporting events around their hometown. It is something of a rallying cry for the City on a Hill, and they even performed it live at the 2010 Winter Classic at Fenway Park:
Anyway, the members of Dropkick Murphys, as you might expect, are big fans of the Boston Bruins, and Wednesday night they ran into a bit of a predicament.
The band was scheduled to headline a show at The Paramount, in Long Island, N.Y., but the Bruins were playing the Chicago Blackhawks in Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals at the same time. No problem, though — they figured they’d just wait it out and take the stage after the game ended:
The plan hit a little snag, however, when Chicago’s Johnny Oduya tied the game at 3-3 with his goal 12:14 into the third period — the puck nearly went in at 10:30 p.m. ET on the dot — eventually sending the contest into overtime.
At that point, the band didn’t have much choice but to hit the stage, despite the game not being over. But fortunately, the venue had their back, and put the game up on two large projection screens on either side of the stage:
Got the game playing on the big screens at our @ dropkickmurphys concert #gobruins #dropkickmurphys
— The Paramount (@TheParamountNY) June 13, 2013
Here’s a photo of the setup, via Instagram user @quiettdog:
@ dropkickmurphys from last night at the #Paramount… Yes the Bruins game is on the big screens!!! One by best shots twitpic.com/cx05qh
— Matt Speed (@MattSpeed) June 13, 2013
Putting the Bruins game on during a Dropkick Murphys concert is basically the most Boston thing anyone has done.
Unfortunately, the Bruins ended up losing in triple-overtime, which certainly probably killed the buzz — though at that point the show may have already been over.
It bears noting that earlier Wednesday afternoon, the band announced that it was postponing its Saturday tour stop in Toronto because lead singer Al Barr is undergoing a medical procedure.
It sounds like a legitimate enough excuse, but at this point, you can’t help but wonder if maybe they just wanted to make sure they were free for Game 2.
