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Live Reviews

Throwing Down Again

HUGE: Dicky’s signature bulldog growl was fully intact in the Bosstones’ first show since 2003.

The band — composed of the latter-day Bosstones line-up of Barrett, bassist Joe Gittleman, drummer Joe Sirois, guitarist Lawrence Katz, dancer Ben Carr, trombonist Chris Rhodes, and saxophonists Tim Burton and Roman Fleysher — played a nearly hour-and-a-half-long, career-spanning set (highlights: a souped-up “Devil’s Night Out,” “Someday I Suppose,” and a spot-on cover of the Clash’s “Rudie Can’t Fail”). They sounded tight and huge as ever, Dicky’s signature bulldog growl fully intact and the horns and guitar bright and blaring. The scene downstairs was eerily reminiscent of the 1997 Throwdown (captured for posterity on the band’s Live from the Middle East album): the familiar black and white plastic Santas, one of each flanking the stage, and the ceiling above them dotted with Christmas lights.

• Dicky Barrett
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• The Mighty Mighty Bosstones
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• Tim Burton
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Still, there was something vaguely disappointing about the whole thing. Maybe it was all the anticipation — the band’s MySpace comments section had been filled with missives from people coming from as far away as Decatur, and tickets were still fetching hundos on Craigslist hours before. Or maybe it was that the crowd was tamer than at Throwdowns past — we’ve clearly aged along with the band.

Whatever. Dicky still has a way with poignant sentiment: after a stirring rendition of Stiff Little Fingers’ “Tin Soldiers,” he spoke for everyone in the room when he said, “Let’s hope that by the next Throwdown, the fucking war is over.” A few minutes later, he walked offstage as the crowd commenced the old customary chant: “Mighty Mighty . . . Boss-tones!”

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