Flogging Molly rings in the season of St. Patrick

The Guinness flowed Wednesday night as the Green 17 tour, sponsored by the brew, packed Avalon for a pre-St. Patrick's evening of Gaelic charm and slam dancing.

Dave King, frontman for the Irish punk-rock outfit Flogging Molly, kicked off a 90-minute set with ''The Wrong Company," from the group's album ''Within a Mile of Home." Bathed in emerald light, the Dublin native transitioned into ''Screaming at the Wailing Wall" and got the crowd jumping.

King's raspy voice and thick brogue were the perfect complements to the seven-piece ensemble, which features a fiddle, a banjo, and a steel flute. Fans on the floor, some in Celtics jerseys and others shirtless, threw fists into the air as they chimed in with the obligatory ''Oi" choruses.

While the band kept the tempo high for most of the evening, it also displayed versatility with the punk-rock equivalent of a power ballad, ''Whistles the Wind." Crowd members stopped slamming long enough to raise a glass and throw a sweaty arm around a neighbor.

''Most of you Bostonians are filthy Irish, aren't you?" King asked, to a rousing choir of cheers. He paused between songs to sip his whiskey and crack jokes, often at his own expense.

Flogging Molly wrapped up the set with ''What's Left of the Flag," from the 2002 album ''Drunken Lullabies," to howls from the audience. Then the band left as it had entered, cloaked in green light.

Florida natives Hot Water Music opened with a fast-paced, calculated set. The punkers were as tight as ever, treating the crowd to new tracks off their third Epitaph release, ''The New What Next."

The Riverboat Gamblers, from Denton, Texas, began the night with high energy. Lead singer Mike Wiebe spent more time meandering through the pit and scaling speaker towers than he did onstage. Despite the stage show, the Gamblers sound was similar to artists such as AFI and No Use for a Name. While they succeeded in sounding raw, they failed to find a sound that was exclusively theirs.