Last night Flogging Molly, with help from opener Scythian, showed Penn State the true meaning of St. Patrick’s Day: being Irish, drunk, and pissed-off.

Things got off to a late start, after an overtime set-up, but Scythian quickly got the crowd dancing. Their set, while short, was solid, mixing celtic rock, creole, and an inventive medley of rap covers. The highlight may have been hearing Biz Markie’s “Just a Friend” played on accordion. This was not the band’s first show at Penn State, and I hope it’s not their last. It’d be great to hear them play a longer set.

The show really got underway once Flogging Molly took the stage, though for a Flogging Molly concert, things were pretty tame. I only saw a few pairs of shoes thrown and there were no major incidents or injuries in the mosh pit. This past summer during the band’s set at Warped Tour, I personally saw a man have a tooth punched out, if you want to know what makes a “real” pit by Flogging Molly standards.

Playing to this “tame” crowd, however, did give the band a chance to play more of their acoustic songs. The audience seemed just as receptive to these album tracks as they did the hits. The only boo’s came when their drummer was introduced as an “Ohio native” and when lead singer Dave King said he couldn’t take a sport played with helmets seriously. All in all the band played a two and a half hour set, fitting in all their hits and many besides. I’m sure everyone there left feeling far more Irish and far more deaf.

There was one moment during the concert that I feel must be noted. Dave King managed to called out State Patty’s Day by proxy when he commented on one crowd-surfer’s misspelled shirt (the holiday is St. Paddy’s to Irish people). Forget deans and pastors, this is one mark of disapproval I don’t feel the holiday can recover from.