Typically, bands like to curry favor with a crowd by slipping the city’s name into a song — U2 often substitutes “Boston” for “Berlin” in the lyrics to “Stay” when they play here — or sometimes the singer will don the jersey of the home team during a show. It was counterintuitive then when the Dropkick Murphys, during the band’s gig in Montreal over the weekend, beheaded a doll wearing a Canadiens jersey. Knowing how much Ken Casey and his bandmates love the Bruins, maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised. For their part, the 50,000 people at the Heavy Montreal music festival seemed more amused than upset. Casey told the crowd what a big Bruins fan he is and then his son Liam appeared onstage with the doll clad in the Canadiens sweater. The toy was treated roughly for a few minutes before finally having its head torn off. (Casey posted video of the doll dismembering on Facebook.) Why such antipathy for Les Habitants? Well, it didn’t help that P.K. Subban’s team vanquished the B’s from the Stanley Cup playoffs. “We always do something like that when we’re in Canada. And they give it right back to us,” Casey told us Monday. “It’s good to do things like that when fans are passionate about their team. It gives the show more energy.” After the doll was dispensed with, and just so there was no confusion, the DKs tore into “I’m Shipping Up to Boston.”
Dropkick Murphys show Bruins love in Montreal
