Hot Mulligan, Free Throw, Towns, Bad Neighbour @ Uni Bar, Adelaide 2/3/2024
The calendar may say Autumn but the vibe is all Summer this evening at the Adelaide Uni Cloisters for Hot Mulligan’s first ever show in Adelaide. From rusted-on punks to parents with kids, there’s a healthy crowd in early to see openers Bad Neighbour from Brisbane kick things off, their lively set of emo rock adjacent to the likes of Modern Baseball and The Menzingers going down well with punters early. Vocalist/guitarist Cooper Riley professes his love for Adelaide at every chance and is unashamedly relishing the opportunity to be on the tour bill. Lead guitarist Zoe Middleton adds an electrifying dynamism to each song with her solo on 20,000 Knife Fights filling all sides of the Cloisters with beaming smiles from the crowd.
Sound checking in front a captive audience has the potential to be a real vibe killer. Local two-piece Towns don’t let that get to them though and by halfway through their first song they’re in full swing and delivering the good vibes. It’s their first show in six months but you wouldn’t know it as singer Aston Valladares and Daniel Steinert trade smiles while they rip though a stirring set of punk-pop anthems like I don’t Mind, Swimming and Boring. Steinert is absolutely unrelenting on the skins, their head thrashing back and forth on each song like the type of giant inflatable wacky waver that you’d see at a used-car lot. They close their set with what could be one of the best pop songs to come out of Adelaide in a long time Season 5 (break my fall).
Free Throw are not a band this reviewer was terribly familiar with before tonight, and judging by the amount of band merch scattered throughout the crowd, that’s clearly my own fault. “Adelaide, let’s f*cking go!” lead vocalist Cory Castro declares with his wide cheezy grin as the Nashville quintet begin to blast their raucous emo screams across the Cloisters.
The Corner’s Dilemma and Pallet Town get the crowd singing and bouncing early with Castro keen to display his best Eddie Van Halen-style finger tapping. A Part is Better Than Zero from their 2023 LP Lessons That We Swear to Keep is reminiscent of New Found Glory of days gone by, and songs like My High are just made for the live crowd sing along. It’s the set-closer 2 Beers In however that earns an enormous cheer as the communal chant of “fck everything about this” is met with a few dozen middle fingers in the air. At an all-ages show there’s always something new for the kids to learn.
The feeling of anticipation is high for Michiganders Hot Mulligan ahead of their first show in Adelaide tonight. Their 2023 LP Why Would I Watch was one of the most popular pop-punk/emo releases of 2023, so it’s no surprise the original venue of the Unibar was upgraded to the Cloisters to accommodate the additional demand. Striding on stage and wasting no time the band kick into Drink Milk and Run followed by Shhh! Golf Is On off their latest album. Re-check! Change! lead vocalist Nathan “Tades” Sanville screams pointing his index finger to the front row. For the punters who’ve been against the rail since gates opened, they are only happy to reciprocate the gesture. Sanville recalls the band’s 4:30am wakeup call earlier today which may go a little way to explain their slightly toned-down energy to begin with. It’s short-lived though as the sweet emo-pop of OG Blue Sky inspires what will be the first of many audience sing alongs for their set, followed by *Equip Sunglasses* which sees fists, phones and drinks launched into the air, pursued by a wave of crowd surfers gliding across the surface of the moshpit.
Sanville engages playfully with the crowd between songs, “we’re playing a college, this is ironic,” he states before launching into Feel Like Crab. For tune all about life’s hopelessness, they sure know how to make it sound joyous.
With the sun now set, bright stage lights illuminate the Cloisters as the band seamlessly weave a mix new songs like This Song Is Called It’s Called What’s It Called, Shouldn’t Have a Leg Hole but I Do, and It’s a Family Movie She Hates Her Dad amongst older fan favourites like Wes Dault Can’t Find the Madison Falcon, Dary and BCKYRD. Rhythm section Brandon Blakeley and bassist Jonah Kramer hold everything together like musical superglue, and guitarist and backing vocalist Chris Freeman springs up and down all whilst delivering blissfully hot emo guitar licks to boot.
The slower tempo intro of This Song Is Called It’s Called What’s It Called provides the crowd time to produce possibly one of the slowest-ever circle pits, while the tender moment of No Shoes in the Coffee Shop (Or Socks) sees scattered couples start to swoon and croon along to the romantic chorus of “every crater on the mooooon.”
Fan favourite Featuring Mark Hoppus sends the crowd into a frenzy before rounding out the set with album closer John “The Rock” Cena, Can You Smell What the Undertaker and encore How Do You Know It’s Not Armadillo Shells?
As fans exit the venue there’s smiles aplenty amongst the crowd, no doubt buoyed by the fact that as long as bands like Hot Mulligan exist, pop-punk and emo certainly ain’t dead just yet. One can only hope tonight is the first of many visits for Hot Mulligan to the city of churches.
Live Review By Matt Eygenraam