House of Music

Dropkick Murphys and Bad Religion Ignite Oakland’s Summer of Discontent

Dropkick Murphy w/ Bad Religion Fox Theater Oakland, CA July 29th, 2025 Photos and Review by Angela Peyton This year has been overflowing with fuel for pointed punk, and Dropkick Murphys are more than happy to keep their tank topped up. Riding the energy from a blistering set on Sunday at the Vans Warped Tour…

Staff

August 1, 2025

1–2 minutes

Dropkick Murphy w/ Bad Religion

Fox Theater

Oakland, CA

July 29th, 2025

Photos and Review by Angela Peyton

This year has been overflowing with fuel for pointed punk, and Dropkick Murphys are more than happy to keep their tank topped up. Riding the energy from a blistering set on Sunday at the Vans Warped Tour in Long Beach, lead singer Ken Casey spent a full seventy-five minutes weaving between and around the band (Tim Brennan, Jeff DaRosa, Matt Kelly, James Lynch, Kevin Rheault) and singing up-close and personal with the crowd at Oakland’s Fox Theater in a show that was more rousing communal chorus than concert. Picking deep cuts from early albums (“Skinhead on the MBTA”, “Caught In A Jar”) to sprinkle in among selections from their most recent album (“Who’ll Stand With Us?”, “Chesterfields & Aftershave”), their encore of biggest hits had the audience shaking the venue to end the night. Sharing the night’s billing with them were punk veterans Bad Religion, showing that four and a half decades have not dulled their edge in the least. Newcomers The Mainliners, whose brand of fuzzy punk was quick to get the crowd in the rhythm for the evening, effortlessly warmed up the stage for both.