When opening for a band that has more fun on stage than just about any other, what can you do but have that much fun yourselves? And that is what The Devil Makes Three brought to Chicago’s Aragon Ballroom this past weekend opening for Flogging Molly with Black Joe Lewis and The Honeybears. Flogging Molly has been at this seemingly forever with Dave King hardly showing his age and Black Joe, as always, had his slick, pounding and relentless soul, but The Devil Makes Three’s careening ‘Stomp and Smash’, their brand of debauched bluegrass matched the others toe to toe and kicked off one of the most thoroughly enjoyable bills top to bottom I’ve seen in some time.
The Aragon is not the best venue for the technical aspect of DM3 who furiously pick, bow and strum banjo, cello, violin and guitar for their percussive element, but it has always been an incredibly energetic room. And rowdy with anticipation, the Chicago crowd was howling from the jump giving even the openers raucous responses and stomping along to DM3′s sing-a-long-ready ditties, even if they didn’t know the words.
Given the Aragon’s sound, the unenviable slot of taking the stage first before such local favorites and an early start time (7 p.m.), The Devil Makes Three grabbed any doubters by the collar and had them dancing in no time.
Paul Bulow
‘Old Number 7′ (Live at the Mystic Theater)
Tour Dates
Feb 21 – House of Blues – Boston, MA ^^
Feb 22 – Hammerstein Ballroom – New York, NY ^^
Feb 23 – The Note – West Chester (Philadelphia), PA *
Feb 24 – The Fillmore – Silver Spring, MD ^^
Feb 25 – House of Blues – Myrtle Beach, SC ^^
Feb 26 – Fillmore – Charlotte, NC ^^
Feb 28 – Orange Peel – Asheville, NC ^^
Feb 29 – House of Blues – Orlando, FL ^^
Mar 2 – House of Blues – New Orleans, LA ^^
Mar 3 – House of Blues – Houston, TX ^^
Mar 4 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX ^^
Mar 6 – George’s Majestic – Fayetteville, AR
Mar 8 – Masquerade Hell Stage – Atlanta, GA
Mar 9 – Workplay Theatre – Birmingham, AL
Mar 11 – 3rd & Lindsley – Nashville, TN
Mar 15 – The Handlebar – Greenville, SC
Mar 16 – Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC