Weekend Entertainment | Dropkick Murphys and Sam Hunt

St. Patrick’s Day seems extra special this year with the Dropkick Murphys dropping by.

The patron saints of St. Patrick’s Day will make their Mahoning Valley debut Wednesday, March 6, when they headline a concert at Packard Music Hall in Warren.

The 7 p.m. show will also include Pennywise and The Scratch.

After a hiatus of a few years, the Irish folk-punk standard-bearers from Boston have again launched their annual St. Patrick’s Day tour, and there’s a lot of pent-up energy.

The Murphys had been on a Woody Guthrie deep dive the past two years. The band has always had a musical kinship with the folk singer, whom frontman Ken Casey called “the original punk.”

To get the project started, the Murphys gained exclusive access to a trove of unpublished material from the late singer-songwriter, thanks to their friendship with Guthrie’s daughter, Nora.

Then they recorded two acoustic albums – “This Machine Still Kills Fascists” and “Okemah Rising” – using lyrics writtren by Guthrie and channeling his spirit. Guthrie’s protest songs in the 1940s and ’50s gave voice to the working man’s struggle.

To support the albums, the band did something that was equally unusual for them: They played in theaters with fixed seats and no standing-room pit in front of the stage.

With their Guthrie phase behind them, the Murphys have gotten back to their own roots on their current tour. For the Packard show, the front half of the floor will be standing-only.

Tickets are scarce for the concert, but there are still a few available. Click HERE.

The Dropkick Murphys will finish up their St. Pat’s tour by shipping back up to Boston for four straight hometown concerts March 14-17.

Country star Sam Hunt will return to the area Sunday evening for a concert at Covelli Centre with opening acts Brett Young and Lily Rose.

Dubbed “the most innovative mainstream Nashville performer” by The New York Times, Hunt is a five-time Grammy nominee. His hit spree includes “Body Like a Back Road,” “Breaking Up Was Easy in the ’90s,” “Outskirts,” “Hard to Forget” and “Water Under the Bridge.”

Tickets are scarce. Click HERE.

For a complete look at everything going on in the Mahoning Valley, check out The List.

Pictured at top: Dropkick Murphys. (Photo by Dave Stauble)

Published by The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.