Every so often, a band comes along that blows you through the flaming hoop of innocence and hangs you out to dry on the tattered trapeze of days gone by. Sweet Water is one such band. In June 2007, the band - under the disguise The Cupcakes - prepared for their big reunion show in Seattle with a tune-up show at Tacoma's Hell's Kitchen. Four chords into its first song, I was transported to Seattle's RCKCNDY in the '90s by these four guys fully in control of everything - the air, the audience, the sound, the unknown. Adam, Rich, Paul, and Cole ran through their pop-punk hits before a packed crowd. I found myself unexpectedly roaring and pumping right along, caught up in memories and rock star singer Adam Czeisler's dance moves. Sweet Water picked up on the crowd intensity and worked it like seasoned pros. I felt outside of myself, carried, nay, pushed along on opener "Cake And Strychnine," then "Feed Yourself," "Big Rock Show," "Win," "Slide," "Everything Will Be Just Fine," "Losing," "Sleep," "Superstar," "Head Down" and closing with "Crawl."  The band's shining ultra-hooky and supercharged show injected ecstasy into everyone around me. I fell in love with the audience and thanked them for taking me back to a place I had almost forgotten existed, a place of total immersion in the music and the moment, and fie on anybody who has a problem with that. I'm ready for a repeat Saturday night at Jazzbones.

SWEET WATER, w/The Guessing Game, 8 p.m., Jazzbones, 2803 Sixth Ave., Tacoma, $9.99, 253.396.9169