I shot this live video clip at the Belly Up Tavern in Solana Beach CA in what I believed was September 2000, but have now confirmed through newspaper archive searches the show was earlier that year on April 7th.
These were the days when the relatively new band fronted by former FastWay singer Dave King were still touring on their own self released debut live album, Alive Behind the Green Door, recorded at their old stomping grounds Molly Malone’s on Fairfax in LA. The Flogging Molly debut studio album Swagger came about after hooking up with the Side-One Dummy label around this time and they were invited to tour with Kevin Lyman’s Warped Tour later that summer.
They’ve since gone on to have a huge career, selling out venues around the world, playing major festivals, securing corporate sponsorship funds from the likes of Jack Daniels & Bushmills whiskey, Orrick law firm and Death Wish Coffee, and even having their own branded Salty Dog Cruise themed cruise weeks. Salty Dog Cruises are annual cruise ship traveling circuses curated by Flogging Molly that cost attendees thousands to attend on giant cruise ships from the Port of Miami Florida on into the Caribbean, down to Belize and back joined by their fave bands performing sets including Rancid, Slackers, Stiff Little Fingers, Vandals etc. It all seems pretty amazing to me since they used to play free shows weekly in LA in the months before this gig where I shot them in Solana Beach where admission was just $10 at the time.
