Flogging Molly Photo By Dan Monick , Courtesy Flogging Molly

Dropkick Murphys

March 6 OU Sooners vs . Dallas Baptist Patriots L . Dale Mitchell Baseball Park Norman , OK 405-325-8200 www . sooersports . com

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OKLAHOMA CITY - If there were ever a battle of the Celtic punk rock bands , it would be a war of the clans between Flogging Molly and the Dropkick Murphys .

In a good way .

Both bands are not the usual fal-de-ra drinking or happy-offto-battle song bands one often hears in Irish-American pubs . Although their lyrics do span love , war , drinking , politics , the strength of the working class , and Irish and Scottish history , the usual suspects . But it ’ s the dynamic punk rock force that drives the traditional Irish music home .

Celtic punk first crash-landed on the planet in the early 1980s , mixing Irish and Scottish traditional music with punk rock .

Of course , it ’ s electric , electric guitars , bass , drums , but there ’ s a tin whistle , accordion , fiddle also stirred in the mix .

Check out the mainstay band Flogging Molly at 7 p . m . on Mar . 11 at Cain ’ s Ballroom , 423 N . Main Street , Tulsa ( cainsballroom . com ).

Named after Los Angeles pub Molly Malone ’ s , where the fledgling seven piece band had weekly gigs , Flogging Molly ’ s electric grind also features some lovely tin whistle playing , mandolin , as well as tenor banjo , and a bodhrán a traditional Irish hand-held goatskin drum . Listen for the nod to Irish trad music as heard in the song “ Salty Dog ”, interspersed with the rapid-fire Kesh Jig , the fiddle , leading the charge .

I , too , wondered too how the Dropkick Murphys landed their name . Hailing from Quincy , Mass ., the six musicians borrowed from local Boston lore , and named their band after a 1950s football player turned boxer , John “ Dropkick ” Murphy .

Hear them sing proud the anthems of the working class , Celtic punk style at 6 p . m . on Mar . 2 at the Diamond Ballroom , 8001 S . Eastern Avenue , Oklahoma City ( www . diamondballroom . net ). They bring out the full guns with the Scottish highland pipes , best played with a clan army behind you on a hilltop . Or a rowdy standing-room only crowd in front of you .

March 6-March 11 Finding Neverland Tulsa Performing Arts Center Tulsa , OK 918-596-7122 www . tulsapac . com

March 7 Kinky Boots Bartlesville Community Center Bartlesville , OK 918-336-2787 www . bartlessville communitycenter . com

March 7 Carden International Circus Central National Bank Center Enid , OK 580-234-1919 www . cnbcenter . com

March 8 OKC Thunder vs . Phoenix Suns Chesapeake Energy Arena OKC , OK 405-208-4800 www . okcthunder . com

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