Words: Letty Sharp // Photos: Ian Mc Donnell
On the 15th of November the Canadian indie rock band Mother Mother came to Dublin for the first time in their 17-year career. They brought their tour The Inside to the 3Olympia and it was a sold out show.
The band had Kilkenny’s own Robert Grace as their opening act. The singer/songwriter rose to fame thanks to his song, ‘Fake Fine’, which blew up during the COVID pandemic. He had a drummer and keyboardist accompanying him on the stage. Robert got the crowd going with his unique brand of pop music and treating the attending crowd to one of his new singles which isn’t out yet as his third song. Robbie also put his own spin on a cover song as he chose, ‘Hey Ya’, by OutKast and stripped it down as an acoustic number. Robert then picked the tempo back up and he finished with, ‘Fake Fine’. The young crowd were loving it and were well warmed up for Mother Mother.
Once Mother Mother graced the stage the crowd went wild. They opened with, ‘O My Heart’, and went directly into, ‘Bit by Bit’. It took a couple of songs for the band to fully warm up but once they were on, they were on. They brought lots of energy, especially lead singer and guitarist, Ryan Guldemond, who was all over the stage, jumping on boxes on the stage, going to the edge and interacting with all of the crowd even those high up in the balconies. The end of their 4th song, ‘Body of Years’, had a cover of Radiohead’s classic, ‘Creep’, put at the end of it, sung by Ryan’s sister, backing vocalist and keyboardist, Molly Guldemond. The energy picked up even more with, ‘Back In School’. The young fans sang along with every word of each song and I think the band were taken aback by it. The band then slowed it down by performing some of their older songs acoustically. After the 3 acoustic songs they got back to high tempo, ‘Oh Ana’. Ryan disclosed that a member from their crew was from Ennis is Co. Clare and how they had heard about the mystical county, asking anyone in attendance if they were from Ennis. They ended the show with their songs, ‘Hayloft’, and ‘Hayloft 2’, ending the latter with two different endings. The band then departed the stage and the requests for one more song came thick and fast. Ryan then returned to the stage alone with his acoustic guitar in hand. He then explained a fan had messaged him asking him to play this particular song. He played half of, ‘Two’, before playing the final song, ‘Ghosting’. Ryan performed the first half acoustically before bringing the rest of the band back onstage and finishing it with them. When the song finished the crowd went wild yet again. A good night all around.
Mother Mother: Set List
Intro
O My Heart
Bit By Bit
Infinitesimal
Body of Years (Ended with Radiohead’s Creep)
The Stand
Back In School
Burning Pile
Problems
Sick Of Silence
It’s Alright
Arms Tonite (Acoustic)
Body (Acoustic)
Wrecking Ball (Acoustic)
Oh Ana
Hayloft + Jasmin Song
Hayloft 2 (smashup Ending)
Hayloft 2 (Acoustic Ending)
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Two (Segment of Acoustic)
Ghosting (First half Acoustic Solo, finished with full band)
