LIVE REVIEW + PHOTOS: MOTHICA AT THE O2 ACADEMY ISLINGTON, LONDON 16/06/25 (+ NXDIA)
Full photo gallery for Mothica here
It's been quite a few days for Mothica. Off the back of a set at Download festival on Saturday, the American songstress was ready for more with a second round at the O2 Academy Islington.
"I'm excited to play this set but I'm more gassed to see Mothica.” Nxdia laughed as she presented a bunch of funky tracks with a punk edge.
Before ‘Boo, Nevermind’ the singer listed off stuff that grinds their gears, like being ghosted, stepping in a puddle in the kitchen when you're wearing socks and people staring at you when you don't know if it's in a good or bad way, all of which elicited boos, a positive in this case.
The cheeky, smiley energy was infectious and seeped into the crowd, even her call of “Yeah, do a fucking pit,” during ‘More!’ felt less like the frontperson of a band commanding a crowd and more like your wild mate encouraging you into their shenanigans.
“She likes the boys but I fucking love you!” Nxdia giggled to rapturous applause after ‘She Likes A Boy’, rounding off an upbeat and warm set.
Occasionally wandering into the path of the wings on her backdrop, creating a genius visual, Mothica wound around the stage looking like an ethereal entity.
“I think some of you know my last album Kissing Death? Well, we're gonna take you all the way to the wild west with this one”. she declared before launching into ‘Mirage’.
The whole room ended up captivated. Mothica's stage set up was simple and sparse and she left herself enough space to drift into while executing her soaring vocals.
“I'm a simp for London.” she declared before providing a list of her favourite things about being here that included Taskmaster, free healthcare and Greggs.
‘Let's get all our anger out tonight,” she encouraged before ‘buzzkill,’ a track about taking the power back. A beautiful cover of Bring Me The Horizon's ‘Can You Feel My Heart’ followed, keeping all eyes on the singer.
Mothica is candid always about her struggles with addiction and rehab. Nearing the end of the set she explained her road to recovery and how it almost made an impromptu stop at improv comedy, but thankfully Mothica instead chose music as her outlet and wrote an album.
After a birthday cake for Nxdia, an encore and a cover of Smash Mouth's ‘All Star’, Mothica and her Mothlings grooved out one more time to ‘SENSITIVE’ which rounded off a set filled with inspiration, honesty and just really good songs.
Words: Imogen Bird
Photos: Florelle Servageon
Full setlist below:
The Void
Toxins
Mirage
buzzkill
Can You Feel My Heart
Afterlife
VICES
forever fifteen
Exit Plan
The Reaper
Another High
Oblivion For Two
Casualty
All Star
SENSITIVE