Reviewed on Wednesday July 29
Post-festival sideshows can be hard work. Everyone’s bound to have a slight case of the comedown blues, and it can turn into a bit of a lethargic pity party for the saps that didn’t make it to the main event. Apparently nobody told Mø and her ‘very special guest’ Elliphant – from the get-go, the girls didn’t give anyone a chance to go flat.
The Scandi-safarian Elliphant softened the crowd up as opener, dousing Oxford Art Factory in intense kodakchrome visuals while delivering her abrasive blend of synthpop/hip hop. She kept her set minimal, accompanied only by her affable and cuddly DJ, but she chatted the whole time and kung fu’d her way around the stage, graciously whetting the crowd’s appetite for the main event.
Coming from a punk background, Mø has garnered a bit of a reputation as absolutely fucking mental onstage, and OAF certainly bore the brunt of it. The fiery Dane took the stage rocking a T-shirt emblazoned with the words “Death Metal”, and with a three-piece that looked more like an electronic Minor Threat than a vanilla synthpop band. The show proceeded accordingly. Mø’s vocal range and sheer force is truly impressive, and she worked her album No Mythologies To Follow to the bone, giving tracks like ‘Maiden’, ‘Don’t Wanna Dance’ and her Spice Girls cover ‘Say You’ll Be There’ wholesome new flavours through a heavy reliance on her percussionists.
OAF is a good venue to play if you want to break down any audience/performer barriers, and the amount of physical contact in the set was intensive. With the recent Vic Mensa and Earl Sweatshirt misdemeanours, Mø spent a lot more time neck-deep in the pit than management looked like they were comfortable with, and she ended her set with a gratuitous stage dive that took her right round the floor. Thankfully no shoes were stolen, or overzealous embraces attempted.
With the audience literally howling for an encore, Mø and Elliphant took the stage together for their final number ‘One More’, which was more of a jubilant epilogue that brought us all down a notch rather than an opportunity to tear the roof down. The whole night read like a how-to manual for a good sideshow, sending everyone home satisfied.
