HOT MULLIGAN
with Free Throw, Just Friends, and Charmer
House of Blues, Anaheim, CA 4.23.24
LIVE REVIEW AND PHOTOGRAPHS BY MARILYN BELL
Back in January, Hot Mulligan played a set at NAMM with fans crowd surfing nonstop through the Hilton lobby. That show and the stacked lineup at the House of Blues Anaheim set expectations high, and this sold out night did not disappoint.
Hot Mulligan’s fellow Michanganders Charmer opened the night with their indie-tinged midwest emo. Up next was the Bay Area’s Just Friends, led by vocalists Sam Kless of Mom Jeans and Briando Goyos Leon, who brought their punk rock, funk emo to get the audience moving. The crowd surfers also kicked it into high gear during their set, and the band’s explosive energy captivated the audience until they played their final note.
Nashville’s Free Throw kept the energy up with their punk-influenced emo. They eased in with the mellow intro of “Such Luck” before the raw power of frontman Cory Castro’s screams kicked in. The momentum built as they launched into the heavier punk vibes on the anthemic “The Corner’s Dilemma.” Vocalist Tades Sanville of Hot Mulligan came out to do “A Part Is Better than Zero” from Free Throw’s latest album, Lessons That We Swear to Keep. The band’s tight playing swirled between delicate melodies and crushing guitars, providing the perfect backdrop for the emotive vocals. Sanville announced on stage that Free Throw is his favorite band, and by the end of the sing-along “Two Beers In,” many in the crowd would likely say the same thing now.
When Hot Mulligan guitarist Chris Freeman appeared at the Echoplex in Los Angeles for Emo Night Brooklyn last year, he said no one probably knew his songs. That definitely wasn’t the case here, and Hot Mulligan picked up right where they left off at that Hilton lobby. Led by the whirling dervish that is Tades Sanville, the band unleashed a barrage of fiery pop punk that never let up. The intensity of the young audience and crowd surfers never let up either, at one point leading a chant for Sanville to “Take it off!” He kept his shirt on, but he led the charge all night with his commanding intensity, never standing still.
Hot Mulligan opened with some older songs off Pilot and the Opportunities EP. Every song in a Hot Mulligan set is a sing-along with unforgettable hooks, but “Gans Media Retro Games” and “Shhhh! Golf Is On” were standouts from last year’s Why Would I Watch. Now classics, “Equip Sunglasses” and “BCKYRD,” from 2020’s You’ll Be Fine, and “Featuring Mark Hoppus,” from the 2021 EP I Won’t Reach Out to You, had everyone singing along at the top of their lungs. It may be easier to remember a Hot Mulligan chorus than it is to remember a song title. Everyone in the House of Blues Anaheim was singing, dancing, and/or crowd surfing until the end of encore “John ‘The Rock’ Cena, Can You Smell What the Undertaker” and still wanted more.
