I like a punctual show, this evening, I
thought it may have begun a bit early. In a darkened theatre, using a mobile
phone is very noticeable so when I saw 8:08 pm on the Samsung Galaxy beside me,
I thought either the songs were really short (we were halfway through the third
song at that point) or we didn’t have the anticipated 8 pm start. Either way –
Hannah’s set started with Elephant
followed by Enemies. These two songs
are similarly constructed when they start out, but Enemies has a lovely slow build in both sound and intensity. Next
was Robotic, the song currently on
radio airwaves. Live it has more vocal flexibility than the recording suggests.
I thought it was better live than what I hear on the radio and that version is
already very good. Chit Chat has a
nice little rhythm to it and I enjoyed it. Lovers
Breakdown was interesting because it had multiple levels to it, as if it
were emulating a relationship’s life cycle. Fantasize
was next and this was one of my favourite songs so far. It even came with a
clapping invitation (I generally decline – I equate that with being part of the
sheeple.) Millions was almost more
rock than pop (nothing wrong with either) and has a really good energy. The
band was introduced at this point: there was Richard on guitar, Luke on drums,
and Andrew on piano keyboard. Her set was winding down at this point, Somebody was next and Hannah tells it as
a song about falling in love with your best friend; the lyrics tell the story
that this love was not returned and seems like a song from the vantage point of
the knee-jerk pain that comes from that vulnerability. Structurally the song is
well grounded with good rhythmic underpinning. The ballad Ode to Mom was the second to last song and Waiting Game concluded her set.
This was my first time seeing Hannah
Georgas live and although she is not the most dynamic of performers, vocally
she is strong and consistent. There isn’t a lot of interaction between band
members, they tend to just stand, move along with the music they’re playing and
generally just get on with it. As an observation for ‘the rest of us’ (those of
us not blessed with a size 0 physique) it was refreshing to see some inner
thigh jiggle as Hannah tapped her foot in time to the music. She has a slender
build, but tapered trousers/leggings really ARE the great equaliser. For a
person in the spotlight, with so much focus these days on appearance, it’s nice
to see a singer and performer as a human being. YES! As a band, they have a noticeable
respect for one another. During a longer introduction to a song that Hannah
wasn’t playing in, she moved to the shadows of the stage as if to acknowledge
her colleagues’ time in the spotlight.
As so often happens with Vancouver, this
was the last show of the Hannah Georgas/Mother Mother tour, and a lot of times
a certain kind of energy comes with that. From Hannah, nothing but gratitude.
Happy to be here, Mother Mother are awesome (they are friends, after all), sad
that it’s over, but being at the Orpheum, in Vancouver, for this last show, was
really special to her. Her set was approx. 45 minutes long.
From 8-year olds to moustachioed grey
haireds, Vancouver was well represented this evening. Writing a review for a
Mother Mother show for me is akin to carrying coals to Newcastle – redundant.
After a show at The Commodore in 2011, I think it was members of the band Said
the Whale who compared the show to a master class and I would agree. The vocal,
instrumental, rhythmic, harmonic precision this band possesses is second to
none. Only Franz Ferdinand come close with that kind of precise feel to their
performance, but Mother Mother make it seem so effortless. They just ARE this
tight and this good.
Fog began to fill the auditorium at 9 pm
and 2 pairs of spindly looking trees (think the album art of The Sticks) were
placed upstage, centre stage framing the semi-circular set-up of instruments. When
the band came onstage Ryan Guldemond offered himself as host of the evening – “we’re
here to serve you”, he said. I probably said thank you. The first song was the
title track of the CD, The Sticks
(a.k.a. the lah-dee-dah song - I don't know why I don't count Omen, but at just over a minute and a half, I think of it as an extended intro to The Sticks). Body of Years was next – the spotlights matched
rhythmically, they even seemed a bit syncopated in the intro. What made this
performance interesting is that Molly interspersed this song with another that
I didn’t know (lyric search seems to indicate it MAY have been Cactus by David Bowie as well as the
Pixies). Immediate segue into The Stand in which Molly and Jasmin were softer
in tone than usual. Next came Business
Man followed by Verbatim at which
point it seems like everyone in the Orpheum is on their feet. Two songs from
the current release are next: Cry Forum
and Infinitesimal. There’s an almost
Spanish guitar-sounding introduction to Ghosting
which appears to also be an audience favourite – it was followed by sustained applause
before the band continued with Hayloft.
The song wasn’t immediately performed, it had a long introduction of Ryan
noodling on guitar and Jasmin doing stuff that I can’t read on my notepad now,
but let’s just say it took a bit before the band went back to start the song
from the beginning and carry through. Simply
Simple was next, followed by Bit by
Bit, which featured an Ali Siadat drum solo as part of the extended ending.
On a more serious note, Ryan and the band
did a bit of a song I didn’t know (the
wind and the rain that makes you feel afraid) in memory of Amanda Todd, the
15-year-old girl from Port Coquitlam who was cyber-bullied to taking action:
filming and releasing a virtual cry for help on YouTube, and then within a
month, sadly took her own life in October of this year. I think it was out of
respect to her memory, that they omitted Little
Pistol and continued the set with Dread
in My Heart, which went right into My
Baby Can’t Dance and then Oh My Heart.
Current single Let’s Fall in Love ended the set at about 10:35 pm. Happily the
audience did not have to wait too long for the encore of Love It Dissipates for which Hannah Georgas was beckoned back on
stage. The band took the opportunity to thank their entire crew individually by name (I was impressed by
George Gordon’s lighting skills), including the members of Hannah Georgas’s
band. To round the show off, the intro to Wrecking
Ball was given a very Sabotage-y by
Beastie Boys undertone before it became recognisable.
The only fault to this show was mine: I
hadn’t bought The Sticks yet so wasn’t as familiar with the songs they played from
it as I was with all the others. All caught up now – let the music and the shows
continue!
Setlist Summary:
Omen
The Sticks
Body of Years
The Stand
Business
Man
Verbatim
Cry Forum
Infinitesimal
Ghosting
Hayloft
Simply
Simple
Bit by
Bit
Dread
in My Heart
My
Baby Can’t Dance
Oh My Heart
Let’s Fall in Love
Encore:
Love It Dissipates
Wrecking
Ball
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