Hot Mulligan | Delta Sleep
Manchester Academy
7th March 2025
Mid-Western Emo titans, Hot Mulligan, roll into Manchester on their current tour on the back of their excellent latest album, The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still. A mammoth set of new songs and old favourites gave the sold-out crowd some well needed escapism from the world as they were treated to songs old and new, full of heart, unity and the odd dash of humour.
It’s a cold night in Manchester, and as you make your way to the Academy on Oxford Road, the beards get bigger, the tattoos get bolder, and the plaid shirts become more apparent. Tonight is a night for the emo’s, the punks and the misfits who are all ready and waiting to let off steam in the company of Hot Mulligan.
Tonight’s support comes from Britain’s very own Delta Sleep. A math rock group from Brighton charged with the ever tricky job of warming the crowd up for tonight’s entertainment. Spoiler alert, they do a great job. Their sound isn’t too dissimilar to tonight’s headliners, but without the self-deprecating nature and weird and wacky song titles. Throughout their thirty-minute set, their brand of inoffensive and pleasant music draws several big sing-along moments from the crowd, with all members of the band looking like they’re having a great time. Their last song, The Detail, sees them cheekily changing the lyrics to say “Manchester is everything”, which draws a huge cheer from the crowd. They finish their set to great applause from the now groaning crowd, and the excitement amongst them grows as up next is who they’re all here to see.
Dead at 9:20pm, the lights dim to a huge cheer from the crowd. Hot Mulligan takes to the stage. There is no grandiose opening; they take a second to take in the adoration from the noise that is coming from the sold-out crowd and begin. Kicking off the show is Moving To Bed Bug Island, a calm sounding yet fun opener that allows the crowd to warm up their voices before launching into the show proper. The calm lasts about three minutes. As the final notes echo out, guitarist Chris Freeman shouts, “Manchester, what the fuck is up, let’s get this place spinning!” which is duly obliged by the crowd as Hot Mulligan rip into And A Big Load. Frontman Nathaniel “Tades” Sanville takes time to have some banter with the crowd as he playfully mocks his own band by warning the crowd with “there’s lots of screaming – if you don’t like it, then you’re weird” as the show continues at its 100mph pacing. A trio of new hits in the guise of It Smells Like Fudge Axe In Here, Island In The Sun and Bon Jonah have the audience matching the pace and intensity of the band, singing every word at the top of their lungs. It makes for a truly wonderful atmosphere throughout the entire show. Everyone is jumping up and down, dancing and singing without a care in the world.
The heart wrenching yet infuriatingly named Monica Lewinskibidi sees both Hot Mulligan and the crowd continue their fine form, and it genuinely feels like there is a moment of catharsis for everyone in this room. After the flurry of new tracks is perhaps the biggest hitter of the night, which may have come a bit early, the modern emo classic of How Do You Know It’s Not Armadillo Shells?, a moment that everyone in the room has been waiting for. Every word is sung as loud as possible, a goosebumps inducing moment. It’s a true testament to how this song has become an icon of its genre that is truly a beautiful moment. After being so new music heavy, the set changes up and sets its path down a greatest hits path, which the band jokingly lets the crowd know that “the new stuff is done with for now”. Powering through the likes of Fly Move (The Whole Time), And I Smoke and Cream of Wheat of Feet Naw Cream (feat, which sees the show stop briefly to deal with an incident in the crowd.
After the brief hiatus, Tades takes a moment to share his disdain at billionaires asking why they exist and “more importantly, why are they still alive?” which sees a huge cheer from the crowd as they launch into Prototheme, one of tonight’s heavier tracks which sees mosh pits aplenty throughout the crowd before taking things down a notch with hit John “The Rock” Cena, Can You Smell What The Undertaker. Featuring Mark Hoppus follows, and whilst there is no Mark Hoppus to be seen, the song is a highlight for the night. There are crowdsurfers en masse as it bleeds into a new track; I Don’t Think It’s The Right Time for Emoji’s. The heaviness returns as guitarist Chris Freeman demands the crowd to whip up a circle pit, which the crowd wastes no time creating.
Tades takes another moment to deliver a funny ident in the style of an advert informing the crowd what Dungeons and Dragons is and how they can play it which gives the crowd a rare breather before barrelling through their final songs of the main set with Feal Like Crab and Gans Retro Gaming proving to be the more received songs in the road to the end of the main set which is brought to an end by the great Slumdog Scungillionaire. After a brief moment on stage, Hot Mulligan returns for a two-song encore of BCKYRD and *Equip Sunglesses*, which gives the crowd one more moment to give their all as they scream their hearts out one final time as the show comes to a triumphant close.
Tonight feels like more than just another gig. With the news cycle constantly delivering fresh misery, there’s something genuinely powerful about a room full of strangers finding release together for a couple of hours. Hot Mulligan thrives in that space between humour and heartbreak, and tonight Manchester embraces both wholeheartedly. The world outside might feel like it’s burning—but inside the Academy, emo is alive, loud, and very much here to stay. Long may it reign.
~
Delta Sleep can be found at their website here.
You can find Hot Mulligan on their website as well as their Facebook | Instagram
All words by Ed Walton, you can find his author’s archive for Louder Than War here
All photos by Kristy Eighteen – Instagram
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