The lights go down, and the crowd goes silent. Neon lights spin and flash as Meet Me @ The Altar walks out on stage at Hawthorne Theater, a cozy 500 cap venue in Portland OR. Their 14 song set kept the crowd moving with new songs, fan favorites, and even some oldies. Formed in 2015, MM@TA consists of lead vocalist Edith Victoria, guitarist Téa Campbell, and drummer Ada Juarez. Their show in Portland lands a little over halfway through their “Say It To My Face” tour, named after the first song off their most recent album “Past // Present // Future”. After waiting to see them headline for so long, their show blew me away.
The show was full of bright flashing lights, high energy and a joyful crowd. Meet Me @ The Altar preaches having a safer space within the live music scene, and it shows. During songs like “Hit Like A Girl” they open up a pit in the middle of the crowd and offer a moment for non-men to mosh. Edith sings “Ladies and Ladies, no gentleman, show me what you got.” While mosh pits are not new in the scene, they can be overwhelming to some. MM@TA’s show was a wonderful experience for newer concert goers to try out new things, and even had quite a few crowd surfers!
The set flowed from one song to the next bringing energy every step of the way. Fan favorites like “Same Language” and “Hit like a girl” got the crowd moving off their feet before going into a few covers. MM@TA introduces them by suggesting everyone has a song they wish they had written. Their covers of “Since U Been Gone,” “Take Me Away,” and “Burnin’ Up” had the whole crowd singing along.
The end of the set had a beautiful mix of fan favorite oldies, and newer hits. Songs like T.M.I and Garden had everyone off their feet, and Kool had everyone singing their hearts out. MM@TA ended with “Say It To My Face” and had the crowd cheering so much that they chanted for an encore, though sadly one was not planned. Overall, MM@TA had an incredible performance, and made various efforts to interact with the crowd. Edith pointing and singing at fans on the barricade, covering hit songs, discussing important issues like representation within pop punk, and more brought a wonderful sense of community within the crowd.
Setlist:
- Same Language
- Now or Never
- Beyond My Control
- Try
- Hit Like a Girl
- It’s Over for Me
- Since U Been Gone (Kelly Clarkson cover)
- Take Me Away (Christina Vidal cover)
- Burnin’ Up (Jonas Brothers cover)
- T.M.I
- Garden
- Feel a Thing
- Kool
- Say It (to My Face)
