And when I say 'insane', I mean brilliantly insane in the best of ways. Not being overly familiar with her music I didn't really know what to expect but whatever I might had been expecting, she topped it big time. The gig was a blast, and here's my two pennies on it.
The gig was held at Musikhuset Posten in Odense, Denmark, with MØ (I'm not sure about the capitalisation so I'll just stick with the one used on Last.fm, my holy Bible of music) being supported by Sekuoia, a glitch-hop project of Copenhagen-based Patrick Alexander Bech-Madsen. I kind of missed the warm-up gig due to arriving late, though. I did manage to see the band's last song or two and while the music was interesting, it wasn't necessarily the best possible choice to open up for MØ - whereas the latter was zestful music to dance to, the former plays much calmer stuff, something you'd rather just chill out to. Outside of the context of a concert, however, Sekuoia's music is quite nice and relaxing - you might want to check his music out. "Evenings" is a personal favourite of mine.
But it was of course MØ that we were there for. While waiting for her gig to begin, I couldn't help noticing the huge amount of high ponytails, braids and hair buns in the audience - a probable reference to the singer's trademark hairstyle. Then again, this is Denmark and I'm starting to believe girls are actually born with their hair tied on a high bun as it tends to be the dominant female hairstyle here (as pointed out by Tumblr user Copenhannah in her hilarious post on how to look like a Dane). Another thing that I found particularly lovely was the diversity of the audience: while the majority obviously consisted of twenty-something hip concert-goers, there always seems to be the occasional older attender or two (or as in this case, like a dozen of them). This is a wonderful phenomenon I've noticed on several occasions, for example when going to that Porcelain Raft gig in Copenhagen a while ago. It's always great to see good music blur the lines between different segments and simply bring people together to enjoy it.
When MØ did eventually come onstage, she got the crowd going instantly, storming the stage in a flurry of limbs and hair, all whipping around independently from each other. She danced like a crazy cheerleader on crack but it wasn't about the moves, it was about moving. And boy did she move. At times she would even get down from the stage, busting her moves among us instead - she really knew how to play with her audience.
The Danish indie-pop sensation was backed by a three-piece band, and four songs in, an additional three-piece brass section joined her onstage. As I mentioned before, I didn't know even half of the songs she played but she did an amazing full-length set (which was great since I was a bit concerned with the length of the setlist, considering she's only got one EP out), complete with high-energetic, uptempo dance numbers to keep the concert-goers dancing. Familiar with her material or not, if you went there for a proper party, you had yourself a proper party.
The highlights included the final two songs of the main set, "Never Wanna Know" and "Glass" and the obvious encore "Pilgrim", her debut single. "Never Wanna Know" is a passionate ballad whose sultry sound recalls that of Lana Del Rey, and it was performed in a glorious live rendition. It also positively stood out as one of the few downtempo songs in the setlist. And when in the chorus of the powerful "Glass" she was wistfully lamenting "Oh, why do everyone have to grow old" I looked around and saw all the older people, perhaps wearing ear plugs or with their fingers to their ears, but nevertheless dancing along just like all the rest of us, I thought to myself: maybe with music like this, we don't.
If you get the chance, go see her. You'll love every minute. Meanwhile, check out these songs - they're good.
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