Cavetown & Mother Mother Join Forces On The Rooftop At Pier 17

Cavetown and Mother Mother co-headlined a tour across North America, two of their last shows taking place at The Rooftop at Pier 17 in New York City. Mother Mother closed out the show on the 10th.

Pop-punk band Meet Me @ The Altar kicked off the show with “Say It (To My Face),” the first track off their album Past // Present // Future. Their set took place just before sunset; the perfect setting for their upbeat discography that makes you wish for summer to never end. The band seemed to have an absolute blast, with vocalist Edith Victoria jumping across the stage, and later giving a shout-out to the lesbians in the audience. Victoria and drummer Ada Juarez had support from guitarist Jill Beckett for a few of their shows, including this one.

Cavetown began their set with “let them know they’re on your mind,” a single released in January of this year. The song is light and catchy; and touches on loneliness, infatuation, and revealing the importance of reaching out to those you care about. Their set featured a giant tree stump which he used as his stage to perform his more popular hits, like titular track "Lemon Boy," and "Sweet Tooth." The way he interacted with the audience made me feel like I was watching my best friend perform. He told the audience that he loves performing because he gets to see so many people who look like him, and reciprocally, watching him perform makes one feel like they’ve been transported to a cozy alternate universe. I’ve never seen so many people wearing an artist’s merch at a concert, which is not surprising, given how much Cavetown seems to care about their audience.

The crowd kept up the momentum for Mother Mother, who began their set with “Nobody Escapes,” the opening track on their most recent album, Grief Chapter. They followed with “Arms Tonite” and “Hayloft II,” which the crowd seemed particularly excited for. They performed other tracks from Grief Chapter (which released on February 16th of this year), as well as songs from across their discography; visiting albums like O My Heart, Eureka, and Dance And Cry. They opted for a less ornate stage, but were still able to captivate the audience with their unique and slightly disquieted sound. I was a little surprised at first to hear that Cavetown and Mother Mother were going on tour together, as the overlap in their fandoms might not seem obvious. But touring together was clearly a great choice, because every time I looked into the audience, everyone was completely enraptured by both of their performances.

Keep up with Mother Mother here, Cavetown here, and Meet Me @ The Altar here.

PHOTOS BY CYAN ELENA