Review: Mother Mother captivates Rogers Place crowd

Sometimes, when the world seems like a dark, uncaring place, all you need is a rock ‘n’ roll show to set things right for a couple of hours.

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So said Mother Mother frontman Ryan Guldemond from the Rogers Place stage partway through his band’s high-energy set Saturday night.

And, based on the jubilation of the full house, he’s not wrong.

Two decades and nine albums into their career, Guldemond and co. — co-keyboardist/vocalists Molly Guldemond and Jasmin Parkin, drummer Ali Siadat and bassist Mike Young —  have reached what may seem like a punishment, but is actually a pinnacle, a winter cross-Canada arena tour.

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Backed by a relatively spare stage set and light display (well, compared to the last two Rogers Place shows I saw — 50 Cent and Wu-Tang Clan), the five-piece plowed through a career-spanning set, giving equal weight to songs from 2024’s Grief Chapter and hits from across their catalogue.

Kicking off with Nobody Escapes from last year’s rumination on grief and loss, Guldemond charismatic stage presence was on full display, prowling the stage and playing to the crowd.

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The first segment of the set crescendoed to a boiling point of The Matrix (generously sprinkled with a good helping of Pixies hit Where is My Mind), and motivational anthem Get Up.

Jasmin Parkin was given a spot centre stage for an ethereal take on Lana Del Rey’s breakthrough single Video Games.

In a country known for quirky bands, Mother Mother is perhaps the quirkiest to play a stage so large, with Guldemonds sometimes sneering, sometimes soaring vocals, the call-and-answer interplay between frontman and his sister and Parkin, and a sound that morphs from album to album but still remains distinctly them.

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Case in point, the counterbalance of staccato vocals on Explode! and the grand glam of sobriety requiem The Drugs, the foot-stomping Bit By Bit, and the gentler Body and Sleep Awake, fronted by big sister Molly.

Like all good rock shows, the band pivoted to a stripped-down acoustic set, with the siblings Guldemond and Parkin standing chevron on the narrow thrust walkway, digging deep into their back catalogue, material they would mine much to the audience’s delight all the way to set closer Hayloft, which got the biggest reception of the night.

Returning for a slightly lower-key encore, the band members returned clad in Oilers jerseys, customary gifts to visiting musicians. “This is the first time I’ve ever worn a hockey jersey,” Guldemond quipped, allowing the singer to thank Edmonton fans for continued support over the last two decades, before closing the night with the acoustic title track off of Grief Chapter and Burning Pile, which felt like a fitting coda.

While Mother Mother was the headliner, middle act Cavetown had a loyal and loud contingent of fans in the crowd, particularly among the younger set. The set, featuring shades of ’90s alt-rock, some punk vibes and a touch of dream pop, featured emphatic singalongs from start to finish, as the English-born singer worked his way through uptempo laments about human connection (alone and obvious) and encouragement of self-acceptance (Home, 1994), with a lively cover of post-hardcore band Pierce the Veil thrown in for good measure.

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Slight in stature, Cavetown made up for it with a frenetic energy, whether pogoing around on stage, worshipping the gargantuan thumping of his drummer, and with a stirring vocal performance, at times vulnerable and effervescent.

While Cavetown added some ’90s flair to his set, evening opener Winnetka Bowling League staked a claim to power pop across the decades.

Frontman Matthew Koma, perhaps better known as a solo artist and songwriter for the likes of Shania Twain, Carly Rae Jepsen, Hillary Duff and more, used his agile voice to fill the arena as concertgoers filed in, singing on such varied subjects as billionaires (Sha-La-La), drugstore chocolates (CVS), and sex on the beach (Come to the Beach).

This is dreamy, sunkissed pop-rock, complete with jangly guitars, propulsive ’80s-style beats and synths and enough sha-las to have the evening feeling a little more summery.

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