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Unwritten Law, The Vandals, Hot Water Music Viejas May 3rd 2008 It has been quite some time since Hot Water Music has played in San Diego, quite some time since they have played anywhere to be exact, so once I heard that they were playing shows once again and coming to town I knew I had to go.

There show was held on May 3rd at Viejas.  What a great combo – loose a little money gambling first then walk a cross the street to catch a rad show and spend more money on $7 beer. That’s my kind of show well except for the over-priced drinks… 

Although there were 3 bands before Hot Water Music played, the show for us didn’t start until Hot Water took the stage.  The boys from Gainesville, FL. Took the stage around 8:10 pm and instantly started rockin’ the stage with all the old classic HWM songs such as Flight and Crash, Trusty Chords, Remedy and Turnstile.  As I was up front taking pictures, I could feel the sense of excitement from both the band on stage and the front row crowd behind me.  It was a good feeling.  I could tell the guys loved every minute of their set and it showed on their faces that they really missed paying shows together and at the start of every song I could hear a roar from the crowd, excited to sing along to yet again 1 more Hot Water Music song. 

After HWM were The Vandals.  I have never been too into The Vandals and in fact this was the first time that I ever had seen them live.  I had much greater expectations and once The Vandals were done playing, I felt a little disappointed.  It just seemed like something was missing in their songs, however, it could have been merely that they were playing in between the two bands that I went to the show for – Hot Water Music and Unwritten Law.  My two friends that went with me – Mike C. and Mike T. all decided to wash down the remainder of The Vandals set with a nice $7 beer and get ready for the hometown guys Unwritten Law to take the stage.

Right around 10 pm, Unwritten Law walked onto the stage.  Being an Unwritten Law fan, I go to quite a few UL shows, however, this show had the best set-list that I have seen in at least 2-3 yrs.  They opened the set with Underground, Teenage Suicide and Rescue Me.  Other notable songs were: Babylon, California Sky and Welcome to Oblivion.  They ended up playing roughly 16 songs – about an hour and a half long. 

All in all, it was a great show.  Both HWM and UL play live with so much passion and emotion it is hard not to really get into the songs.  I think the most enjoyable thing about going to shows is being able to feel the energy from not just the band but the crowd as well.  Every once in awhile I am fortunate enough to go to a show that makes me feel how I felt when I first started going to shows around age 14, the type of a concert that makes you so pumped up that you don’t care about much of anything while your at the concert other than indulging yourself in the moment and when its all over all you do is think: “that was a great show!”  That is exactly what both Mike, Mike and myself were saying after this show.  This was one of those shows that made me realize what exactly it is that got me hooked on going to shows.

Cole