It was the last night of the Great Escape and along with several other gigs, during the festival I'd saved the MØ gig at The Warren as one of my top picks. Like most people, I’ve found the name ‘MØ’ popping up left right and centre in 2014 so I finally decided to go and find out what all the fuss was about. On my way down to the Warren, I had a taste of MØ on Spotify to get in the mood and was relatively impressed with her sound, but not initially overawed by her music apart from maybe one or two tracks here and there.
When I arrived, the queues were phenomenal and it was clear that she was a popular choice this year. Having finally got in, I secured a spot right at the front in order to get a good view of the seemingly overrated MØ. I’d never been to The Warren before and was really impressed with the space although it's unfortunate that this venue is only active during the festival as I think it’s a perfect mid-sized venue that the Brighton music scene craves.
Just before the gig started, I overheard a few excited murmurs and how people were looking forward to finally seeing her, so I prepared myself for what was to come. I can only say MØ exploded onto stage along with a lead guitarist, drummer and keyboardist/sampler exuded infinite energy straight from the off, it was clear that this was going to be an incredible gig and one I wouldn’t forget in a long time.
One of my favourite things about MØ is her presence on stage and the intense execution of her songs. For me, she personified the perfect mix of everything. She sang with force and meaning yet often returned to a more delicate timbre, her dancing was vaguely erotic, yet at the same time had a very prominent sense of ‘strong feminist woman’ and we were all drawn to her like moths to light.
Even though her performance was physically demanding, MØ somehow managed to stay in tune without ever sounding vaguely out of breath no matter how much she was moving about. The only give-away being the vast amount of sweat that was falling off her face by the end of the performance.
Her audience interaction was amazingly engaging and often she would come right to the edge of the stage, in front of the monitors to perform and reach out to her fans. During her track ‘Don’t Wanna Dance’ she even jumped off the stage, over the barrier to join the audience and dance with us. Even though this was part of the act, it was very clear that she genuinely enjoyed it as much as the rest of us. She often played up to the cameras, pulling extravagant and long drawn out poses right in front of them yet without a hint of ego.
I often find that a good live performance can considerably alter your enjoyment of their recorded music and this certainly happened with MØ. As soon as record shops were open the following day, I went down and bought myself a limited edition LP of her debut album ‘No Mythologies to Follow’ and will never look back.
Website: momomoyouth.com
Facebook: facebook.com/MOMOMOYOUTH