Ahead of the release of their new album next month, ‘Why Would I Watch’, Hot Mulligan finally embarked on their highly anticipated, first-ever UK/EU headline tour. Selling out a headline tour in a different continent is always impressive, and the band from Michigan has done so despite making their UK debut just 11 months ago when they supported Knuckle Puck’s Slam Dunk warm-up run. A lack of appearances this side of The Atlantic has only fuelled this island’s love for Hot Mulligan - this frenetic show at Leeds’ famous Key Club proving that.
The show was opened by sole support act, Arms Length - making their UK debut on this tour. The Ontario group were taken back by the warm Yorkshire reception that they instantly received when opening with ‘Overture’, as the already filled up crowd was perfectly poised to experience this incredible young band. Arms Length put on a monster of a set which was reciprocated by an energetic crowd, with every lyric being echoed from the pit which didn’t seem to close for more than 30 seconds at a time.
The band might not have realised how popular they were in Leeds prior to this show, yet they even made some new fans after sharing an intimate moment with the crowd when lead vocalist, Alan, sung directly to the crowd during Garamond after his mic stand had fallen casualty to an overly-zealous crowd surfer.
The steady stream of stage divers did not ease up and Arms Length could have played a headline of their own, receiving strong calls for an encore. The crowd was sufficiently warmed up and ready for the evening’s main event - The #1 Hot New Band.
Hot Mulligan took the stage and opened with a trilogy of their 3 most recent singles to kick off the festivities. A less cluttered stage for this headline set enabled crowd surfing to ramp up even higher as the midwest emo band played a sensational 55-minute set which did not witness a singular fluctuation in energy levels.
I naively thought that the decibel levels inside Key Club peaked when the band played highly-rated single, ‘Equip Sunglasses’, but the set was stacked with a plethora of cult classics making it impossible to determine which one got the best reaction ; an honourable mention must go to “I Fell In Love With Princess Peach”. While technical issues prevented Chris from moving as much as his bandmates, it did not prevent him from expertly supporting Tades with vocals throughout this unforgettable show.
With something for fans new and old to enjoy as the band had crafted a set list featuring songs from 5 separate releases, the final stretch of this ludicrous set was bookended by 6 straight songs from ‘You’ll Be Fine’. The evening had ‘ended’ with a fantastic moment when the crowd sang back the outro to ‘BCKYRD’ as the band watched gleefully. After retreating off-stage and inducing the inevitable encore chants, Hot Mulligan finished off the night with ‘How Do You Know It’s Not Armadillo Shells?’ to send the capacity crowd home happy. A sensational performance from one of the most consistent bands in the scene, the album release date of May 12th cannot come quickly enough.