Live | Dear Mother [support: Luna Kills]- Oefenbunker – Landgraaf [NL]

18 April 2024

Last Thursday there was a surprisingly nice package at the Oefenbunker Landgraaf. Dear Mother was, on the eve of their EP release ‘Necessary Darkness’, on the road for a small promo tour. Four shows, two of which were sold out. The show in Landgraaf was well attended, with half the venue filled with dedicated fans of the band.

LUNA KILLS

Along for support were Luna Kills from Finland. The young band, led by outstanding singer Lotta Ruutiainen, made a pretty good impression. The music of Luna Kills is mixed with a lot of different sounds. They double somewhere between heavier and rock/pop music. It’s always nice to see that more and more cool young bands are coming up in the industry who like the harder genre and have their own refreshing take on it.

Luna Kills kicks off with their latest single ,,We Were Born To Die’’ and the 2022-released ,,Here For The Drama’’. Two energetic songs that have some Nu-Metal influences. The audience enjoyed it.

,,Super Sick’’ is the next song, followed by the new ,,Slay Your Enemies’’. The also new ,,Fever Dream’’ is the only resting point in this band’s set. A mesmerizing tune with enchanting vocals by Lotta.

With ,,Deep Cuts’’ they hit the gas again before closing their set list with ,,Bullet’’. As far as I’m concerned, Luni Kills played a amazing set. A high quality young band that put down a convincing set of music.

DEAR MOTHER

Moments later, Dear Mother took the stage. This band has also been around for a relatively short time and have not played a great deal live in this capacity. However, it is clear that the brainchild of guitarist Merel Bechtold and Czech vocalist David Pear have the necessary experience on stage, because what the band offers is extremely tight and fat.

This band clearly turns the place upside down tonight, as the joy of playing radiates from them. Guitarist Ferry Duijsens, drummer Ruben Israel and bassist Desmond Kuijk complete this quintet. Tonight, as mentioned before, was dedicated to the upcoming release of their EP release ‘Necessary Darkness’ and of course the four tracks from this release are all played. ,,Threads’’ and ,,Unbreakable’’ kick off the Dear Mother evening and the audience embraces the energy of this band. Singer David is a likable energetic guy who immediately captures the audience’s attention.

In addition to these new songs, we also get to hear a fair share of tracks from their debut album ‘Bulletproof’, released in 2021. In case it wasn’t clear yet, this is a band that knows how to mesmerize an audience without too much effort, and they will therefore score high at festivals like Summer Breeze and Wacken Open Air later this year.

We are lucky to already get a small intimate taste of Dear Mother’s qualities at the OefenBunker. The songs stand their ground, are energetic, catchy and in addition the sound is top notch tonight.

With ,,Palace’’, performed acoustically by David and Merel, there is really only one resting point in Dear Mother’s set list. When you see how much respect these two have for each other, it’s clear why they cherish this band so much. It just shines through. And it doesn’t matter if they forget that there is a bridge in the song. At least the audience is singing along loudly and that’s what matters.

In conclusion: it was a more than successful and musically excellent Thursday evening in the Oefenbunker. Dear Mother & Luna Kills knew how to make their mark. I’m glad I was one of those present.

SETLIST DEAR MOTHER

Threads
Unbreakable
Fade In
Means To No War
Satellite
Wildfire
A Soul For Hire
Palace
The Ones Below
Invincible
12 Years In Exile
Delusion
Symbiose

All photos by Raymond Helebrand