Mothica brought the energy to ‘Mothchester’!
It’s always great getting to see Artio perform and even better to see them getting bigger crowds moving. Their set contained many super catchy guitar riffs combined with meaningful lyrics about their own personal experiences with gender and self-expression amongst many other important topics. I particularly enjoyed ‘Sertraline’ with the back and forth between Rae and Jai’s lyrics, their voices worked so well together while Jai covered Straight Girls’ lyrics. They then rounded out their set with fan favourite ‘Product of My Own Design’ and ‘Pyrokid’ which was also the first song of theirs that I heard and got me into their music. Mothica told us during her set that she asked Artio to join the UK dates after a fan sent her their music which was really cool.
Next up, was Starbenders, a rock band hailing from Atlanta, Georgia. Having not listened to them before I was pleasantly surprised and really enjoyed their upbeat set. How they combined all the elements in their songs was super interesting and they had a great energy and stage presence. I particularly enjoyed ‘Holy Mother’ from their latest album ‘Take Back the Night’ and their latest single ‘Tokyo’.
It was then finally time for Mothica to take to the stage. She floated in in the most amazing outfit with flowy sleeves and took straight to singing. Starting with ‘The Void’, ‘Toxins’ and ‘Mirage’ off her latest album ‘Kissing Death’. These songs all have very different sounds covering difficult experiences and topics but with an upbeat, catchy dark pop sound. Mothica then took us back in her discography with ‘Buzzkill’, a cover of ‘Can You Feel My Heart’ by Bring Me the Horizon, ‘Afterlife’ and ‘Vices’. The set then slowed down a bit with ‘Forever Fifteen’ while the fans held up blue hearts over their torches. It was super cathartic hearing the whole crowd sing all the lyrics back to her. We were then brought back to the new album with ‘Exit Plan’, ‘The Reaper’, ‘Another High’ and ‘Oblivion for Two’.
The production on the whole album was next level and sounded even more insane live. Mothica joked around with the crowd throughout her set and sharing anecdotes about how Artio ended up on the tour and introducing the producer from her last 2 EPs who was in the crowd as well as renaming Manchester ‘Mothchester’. After not being able to catch Mothica supporting Black Veil Brides and Halestorm last year, I was super sad about it but after getting to experience a Mothica headline show, I’m glad I didn’t as it was so much more special getting to experience a full headline set with the new album! She had amazing stage presence and far exceeded all expectations.
The encore consisted of ‘Casualty’ and ‘Sensitive’ off her last Album ‘Nocturnal’ and a cover of ‘All Star’ by Smash Mouth, most famously known from the film ‘Shrek’. Everyone joined in extra loud for this one and had a laugh, it was a great light-hearted end to the evening.
I 100% recommend catching her on her upcoming US tour in November with Johnny Goth, Negative 25 and Cami Petyn who are also amazing! You won’t regret it!
