Last night, three very prominent bands, both current and highly noted in 2012, hit the stage in Huntington, NY at The Paramount to give Long Island a punk show to brag home about.  Hot Water Music, who has been around since 1993 headlined the event.  The band’s most talked about member, Chuck Ragan, has been exploring his creative side and releasing some solo material with a tour of his own (as part of the 2013 Revival Tour) to follow this tour almost immediately.  But this has not taken away from his time with Hot Water Music (a name borrowed from a Charles Bukowski book title) with their well-written 2012 album titled Exister proving it.  Chris Wollard, Jason Black and George Rebelo are also members of the influential group.

The Menzingers opened the show around 8:00pm.  A relatively new band hailing from Scranton, Pennsylvania who was awarded album of the year last year by AbsolutePunk.net for On The Impossible Past which is perfect from front to back with songs that will never die.  The band threw down a ten-song set covering material mostly from their new album, which the crowd was very happy about.  They opened up with track one from the album titled “Good Things”, which is an excellent album intro and served just as well in a live setting.  The highlight of the set was the song “Nice Things”, a personal favorite from the new album.  This is a band to watch in the coming years, their merch table showing that with most of the shirts sold out of all sizes except small.  Watch The Menzingers play “Burn After Writing” at The Paramount last night below!

Setlist

1. Good Things
2. So It Goes
3. The Obituaries
4. Burn After Writing
5. Time Tables
6. Who’s Your Partner
7. Mexican Guitars
8. Nice Things
9. Gates
10. I Was Born

The second act was La Dispute who seemed to get the crowd going.  Although the most dissimilar band, when compared to the other two, La Dispute’s post-hardcore style seemed to fit the lineup perfectly.  Lead singer Jordan Dreyer put a lot of energy into the performance, jumping around stage and even jumping off stage and standing against the gate in the pit with his mic while the crowd rushed the singer to join him in screaming the lyrics.  If you didn’t know La Dispute before seeing them live or weren’t too into them yet, you were now.  With songs a bit longer and more intricate, the band left the stage after a nine-song set that left a revved-up crowd ready for Hot Water Music to take the stage.

Setlist

1. A Departure
2. The Most Beautiful Bitter Fruit
3. Harder Harmonies
4. I See Everything
5. Safer in the Forest/Love Song for Poor Michigan
6. Andria
7. New Storms for Older Lovers
8. Said the King to the River
9. King Park

Finally, Hot Water Music took the stage in a dark room with some brief radio clips playing over the loudspeaker.  The crowd cheered as the band picked up their instruments and the performance took off with “Remedy”, the energetic title track from their 2002 album.  This followed another handful of the band’s classic material to start the show.  Chuck Ragan and Chris Wollard’s raspy voices paired perfectly with the powerful riffs that filled the large venue.  The band really impressed the audience when a mosh pit finally broke out and a lot of long-time fans of the band began singing along and rocking to what was turning out to be a great performance.  The band played a sixteen-song set with an obvious two-song encore consisting of “One Step to Slip” and “It’s Hard to Know” that followed.  Their most recent single “Drag My Body” which is stylistically different, yet catchy, was performed as the eleventh song of the set.  Watch Hot Water Music playing “Mainline” at The Paramount last night below!

Setlist

1. Remedy
2. Mainline
3. Trusty Chords
4. Giver
5. Paper Thin
6. State of Grace
7. Jack of All Trades
8. Alright For Now
9. Old Rules
10. Our Own Way
11. Drag My Body
12. Free Radio Gainesville
13. The Traps
14. Rooftops
15. Wayfarer
16. Manual

Encore

17. One Step to Slip
18. It’s Hard to Know

Overall, the show was beyond great and these bands should be applauded and urged to keep making music and doing things the way they do.  Their unique sound continues to keep the current fan base happy and there is no doubt that they have picked up some new recruits along the tour.

The Menzingers – Burn After Writing (Live at The Paramount) L4LM

Hot Water Music – Mainline (Live at The Paramount) L4LM