It was Labor Day weekend, 2002. The Kansas City Irish Fest was just a twinkle in the eye of a handful of crazy, idealistic kids. But there was an Irish Fest in KC that weekend, in a smallish parking lot off 63rd St. in Kansas City's Brookside neighborhood. There was one stage, two beer tents, and a lot of heart. It was the 4th year of the Brookside Irish Fest. The bars that year were run by a bright-eyed young man with a spring in his step and a song in his heart, a young go-getter that sadly would one day become the bitter, jaded old geezer who today writes this crappy blog. But on that sunny weekend, the world was our oyster or maybe our donut if you don't like oysters. When a band called Flogging Molly took the stage.
We've all got stories about that day. We'll save those for the pub. But the end result of that weekend was this: days after that show the neighbors close to our festival grounds circulated a petition that they then presented to the city council and the mayor's office asking that we never, ever be allowed to return. That's a true story.
Was it coincidence that Flogging Molly played on what turned out to be our last year? Maybe. Would we have been given the bum's rush if we'd put Connie Dover or Cahal Dunne on stage instead of FM? Perhaps. Maybe we'd just worn out our welcome. Whatever the reason, we heard the voice of the very upset people of Brookside and skedaddled. A month or so later on a crisp fall morning in the kitchen of the home of Kyle Kelly, the Kansas City Irish Fest was born.
Say thank you to Flogging Molly, Sunday March 13th at the Uptown Theater. Tickets are here.
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2 comments:
Ah, Dan... I remember working the other beer tent the night of the Molly, and I must say, the music was loud but the Flog-ites were very well behaved and very thirsty for any Porter or water we could provide them. (It was a hot day and the mosh pit was hoppin'.)
Great memory and I'm glad I could be a part of it. There was no way the Irish Fest could have continued in that parking lot... but we could have easily taken over all of Brookside... hmmmm, now that's an idea...
Up the punks! one of my first shows i was probably 11 years old
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