If only St. Patrick's Day were always on a weekend. With the annual celebration of all things Irish falling on a Tuesday this year, revelers are forced into a tough decision: Kiss the blarney stone like you would any other year, or dial things back a notch so you can make it into work Wednesday morning.

Either way, some of the biggest acts with Emerald Isle ties will be partying across the country -- some of them even got started a day early by playing warm-up gigs on Monday night, thereby giving them a full 24-hour window of celebration.

Among the cities ordering the most Guinness is Boston (of course), where hometown punkers the [artist id="150136"]Dropkick Murphys[/artist] hit the House of Blues on Monday night with fellow rockers Black 47, with a return engagement for the Murphys booked for Tuesday. Elsewhere in town, 47 set up shop at the Black Rose for an early morning gig before jetting off to New York, while Irish soft-rockers Bell X1 hit the Paradise Rock Club. And even though sensitive Jersey punks the Gaslight Anthem aren't technically an Irish band, you can bet their meat-and-potatoes sound and regular-folks rock will light up Beantown's Hurricane O'Reilly's.

The scene in New York is no less crowded, though the Murphys had to play the Roseland Ballroom on March 6 in order to make their annual hometown gig. But elsewhere across town, Black 47 will hop over from their morning engagement to play at B.B. King's and, perhaps the world's best-known Irish group, the [artist id="679"]Pogues[/artist], promise to bring their quarter-century-long beer-soaked bacchanalia to the Roseland Ballroom for what is sure to be a raucous time most attendees will never remember.

Boston's Street Dogs, led by former Dropkick Murphys singer Mike McColgan, will touch down in Buffalo, New York, at the Town Ballroom with the Swingin' Utters as part of their Crooked, Drunken Sons Tour.

Having already gotten their whistles wet with a slot at the Shamrock Festival in the RFK Stadium parking lot on Saturday, Los Angeles' Flogging Molly are also doubling up and playing a gig at the Congress Theater Tuesday night, after warming up at the House of Blues in Chicago on Monday. Because you'd be a fool not to play on St. Patty's Day if you're a an Irish band, Chicago's Tossers will also be throwing down, playing at Milwaukee's Turner Hall Ballroom, while the Young Dubliners will play a free gig in Pershing Square after the St. Pat's parade in Los Angeles.

And though he's English, former Smiths singer [artist id="1107"]Morrissey[/artist] did once pen a song about his Irish ancestry --"Irish Blood, English Heart" -- which he's sure to play in Pittsburgh Monday (March 16) during his show at the Carnegie Music Hall.