I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: October 14, 2022] Mother Mother

Back in February (all of 8 months ago), I took my kids and one of their friends to see Mother Mother at TLA.  We all loved it.  The kids had a great time and I was really blown away by their show.  They were supposed to play at The Foundry, which of course would have been neat, but they put on a BIG show and the TLA was the superior venue.  TLA holds about 1,000 people (Foundry is 450).  So I was really surprised to hear that they were coming back to Philly in 8 months to play the Fillmore (capacity 2,500).

And, as I say, it was PACKED.  We were all very happy  to have seen them at TLA where we were super close.  But this show was also fun because the crowd was totally into it and the band seemed bigger and more intense.

Although the setlist was largely the same, the order of the songs was quite different.  In fact, they opened with a song that last time was way near the bottom of the set.  At TLA, Ryan said

they were going to play a song that they knew was weird when they recorded it.  But they had to put it out there.  And now, it sounds like the non-binary community has embraced “Verbatim” and made it their own.

They opened with “Verbatim” and the crowd went nuts.  After a rollicking “O My Heart” (the album that their most popular song is on and which has been revitalized by TikTok), they played a couple of songs that they didn’t play last time.  In all they played five different songs from the previous show (and didn’t play six songs that they played last time).

One of these new songs was “Creep” by Radiohead, which was a huge surprise.  When we saw them last time, Molly Guldemond sang “Pure Love” a nearly a capella song that highlights her voice nicely.  For this show, she did “Creep,” instead.  The crowd really responded to it.  The only problem for me was the guy right behind who wanted to prove that he knew all the words (like everyone else) by singing them very loudly in my ear.  It was especially crappy because Molly has a great voice and really hit all the notes perfectly (this guy didn’t).

The final new song was “Back in School” which was catchy and fun and was from an album they didn’t touch last time.

The remaining songs were the same, but in a different order.  Last time “Burning Pile” was the encore, this time it was right in the middle.   And like last time, they played a small acoustic set.  First it was just Ryan Guldemond (who really has his crowd banter down very well), his sister Molly and Jasmin Parkin came out to sing “Arms Tonite.”  Then bassist Mike Young (who was a maniac jumping around from amps to drums in the background) came out with a mandolin and they played “Body.”  And finally drummer Ali Siadat came out and the five of them stood at the front of the stage for an acoustic “Wrecking Ball.”  We all agreed we’d like to hear that song rock out, but it is fun as an acoustic number too.

After “Oh Ana,” which they played last time near the end too, they started “Hayloft” and the crowd went insane.  They really stretched it out and it rocked hard.  Like last time, before the song was over Ryan played some guitar crescendos and then the band slowed down for Jasmin Parker to sing a verse or two from “Girl Alone.”  It was weird to break up their most popular song like this, but Parker has a stunning voice and we all stood rapt a she sang away.  And then they continued “Hayloft.”  Last time, they had just released “Hayloft II” so it was a bit of a surprise that it was played, but this time it was expected and it may have even gotten a bigger response.

They left for the encore.

For some of the shows before ours they were playing two encores (“I Got Love” being the second song).  But they seem to have dropped that in order to stretch out “Ghosting” even more (which is especially delightful so close to Halloween).

Despite this show being super crowded, it was really fun and I think we all had a great, exhausting time.

⇔ Inside (2021)
§ Dance and Cry (2018)
‰ No Culture (2017)
≠ The Sticks (2012)
∇ Eureka (2011)
♥ O My Heart (2008)
⊗ Touch Up (2007)