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Currently in the middle of a european and north american tour, this was my second time seeing Mum although the last was at a festival. The relatively (probably 1500 people) small venue definitely captured their sound and charisma better and it was a full house that greeted them. Not being German, I missed the first 30 minutes -- note to the untrained: when a German show says it will start at 9, they mean the headline act will start punctually at 9. The other concert experience that was new to me was the crowd waiting until the song was thoroughly and absolutely complete before applauding.... I broke rank several times without receiving any scowls so I don't think there's any issue just being yourself.

I'm not familiar enough with Mum's work to give a setlist -- based on what the band said, the 2 hr-ish show was 70% old stuff and 30% new material from their new album "Sing Along to Song You Don't Know". As multi-instrumentalists, Mum is an experience to behold -- all three vocalists (2 female, 1 male) also play one or more instruments including accordian, melodia, acoustic guitar, cello, modified synth, and violin; the accompanying players include a bass player, trumpet/keyboard player, lead guitar, drummer.

Like label-mates Sigur Ros, one should expect very atmospheric music from the band although Mums pieces often have more conventional pop structure and less of an epoch-ending build-up and finale.

During this show, the bands drummer blew out the bassdrum and the band ably (and adorably) covered with some beatless tracks that probably best showcased the core of the bands output -- complex melodies that are as upbeat as you can probably imagine.

• On 9/13/09 at 3:22pm thirdmandown said: this is the universal music logo on the side of a building near the venue. on the opposite side of the river is a huge graffiti piece of a man with rolexes for handcuffs. This is a comment on a file from the review gallery. View File Reply