On Tuesday, Mother Mother and Cavetown joined forces for a spectacular concert at The Anthem. On a first impression, the musical styles of Mother Mother, a Canadian indie rock band and Cavetown, a British bedroom pop singer-songwriter couldn’t be further from each other. With a closer listen though, the band and the solo artist share strikingly similar themes and aesthetics. This marks the first time Mother Mother has co-headlined a tour in their decades-long career. The tour kicked off at the beginning of June in Phoenix, AZ, and will run through July 13th, wrapping up in Chicago, IL. Meet Me at the Altar is opening on this tour, replacing the originally-scheduled Destroy Boys.

Meet Me at the Altar is a pop-punk act hailing from the east coast. Known for their bold use of colors and hardcore sound, Meet Me at the Altar provides a refreshing, feminine take in a scene that has traditionally been dominated by male groups. Opening with their 2022 single “Say It (To My Face)”, they immediately got the crowd moving and jumping. While they only played a handful of songs, they made the most of their short time onstage. Frontwoman Edith Victoria led the crowd along a chant during the set.

Cavetown cooled things down with a calm and mellow set. Inflatable mushrooms adorned the stage while Cavetown performed perched upon a tree stump. The set design was beautiful and complimented the music perfectly. The British singer grew to fame after posting covers of songs on YouTube in the early 2010s. Their virality on YouTube and TikTok awarded them mainstream commercial success, and they’ve put out a consistent stream of music since then. Their most recent EP Little Vice was released in February.

Mother Mother amped things back up, opening with “Nobody Escapes” before jumping into some of their older music. The group has a very unique sound, often opting to layer their voices together rather than having one dedicated vocalist. The band has been making music since 2005, however TikTok virality in 2020 gained them a new audience. Capitalizing on the new fans, the group put out their album Inside in 2021 and Grief Chapter in February of this year.

All three acts of the evening have wildly different sounds, but somehow it just worked. The crowd was energetic throughout and all three artists complimented each other well. Underlying themes of songs from both headlining groups refer to feeling different and struggling in your own skin. Both groups have amassed crowds of fans relating to these themes, and their music has been especially prominent in queer communities. Throughout the show, queer and trans pride flags were proudly flown onstage, and the singers made several affirming comments to the audience acknowledging that it’s okay to be different. The show was a beautiful display of encouragement and solidarity through music.

Final Grade: A

About The Author

Dean Rogers

Editor-in-Chief/Entertainment Reporter

I knew early on that I wanted to take my place among the stars. One day, my mother saw me reading The Washington Post at a very young age. Who would have known that it would be the building blocks of my journey? Since that day, I dedicated my life to learn all that is learnable. I read everything from encyclopedias, to books, to dictionaries, to magazines. I’m also an avid consumer of television, with my favorite genre being game shows. If you’ve seen me on Who Wants to be a Millionaire or Wheel of Fortune, then you know that this interest has served me well!

My unique style of reporting began back in junior high school, when I started to chronicle the events that shaped my life. Whether it was the annual family vacation or the local science fiction convention, I shot numerous pictures and recorded my thoughts so I could truly appreciate the history. During my senior year at Friendly High, I wrote what was to be my first masterpiece, “Advanced Space Academy – A One Week Journey.” I sent the eleven-page article back to the U.S. Space Camp staff. The article was highly praised for being “one of the best written articles in the history of U.S. Space Camp.” From then on, I knew what I wanted to do for rest of my life — to be a reporter.

Since then, I have trained in Broadcast Journalism at Bowie State University (2008) in Bowie, MD earning a B.S. in Communications. I gained experience in news production and editing through field experiences with Bowie Community Media Corporation, Prince George’s Community Television, and Bowie State University Television. I also wrote scripts for a variety of quiz shows for over five years.

As a lifelong movie buff, I now see close to 100 films every year. I took this love of movies to the next step when I became a co-host for Eclipse Magazine TV in the fall of 2005. While at EMTV, I interviewed celebrities, worked red carpets, and attended a wide variety of movie screenings. In January 2009, I took a leap of faith and started my own entertainment news magazine, The Rogers Revue. Shortly afterward, my life-long journey of studying the silver screen and writing about what I learned finally earned me a place in the Washington Area Film Critics Association.

All of this has led me here, giving you the latest entertainment news for the DMV and the entire nation, and I am truly excited for whatever will come next.

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