Live Report: Mumford & Sons

While once Mumford & Sons were the scruffy looking, waistcoat-wearing champions of the boho-chic, now they sport smart jackets, dark jeans, quiffs and longer hair. Yet you wouldn’t notice this drastic makeover on their sound. The London lads still play it safe. The only difference is that their new singalongs are now played with electric guitars instead of the acoustic accompaniments with little of the radical intentions that a young Bob Dylan had on plugging his Fender into an amp almost fifty odd years ago. Does this make the gig less enjoyable? Not in the least to the many fans who gathered for the second time in a sold-out 3Arena.

It was Jack Garratt, recently awarded with the BRITS Critic Choice Award, who warmed the crowd up, bravely facing the audience on his own as he played a few songs of his forthcoming album Phase. Yet like many of the poor unfortunate support acts on the big stage, the size of the auditorium swallowed up any perspective enthusiasm that the young Brit deserved. As soon as Garratt made his way from the stage, the anticipation started building up.

Casually strolling on stage under thundering rounds of applause, the four Londoners started off with ‘Believe’, the first single off their new album Wilder Mind. The Dublin crowd was clearly up for it, but it wasn’t until the second song ‘I Will Wait’ that they went absolutely mental. The smile on Marcus Mumford’s face said it all, they were going to enjoy this as much as their audience.

Their latest album received mixed reviews and it’s quite obvious that even their own fans aren’t as into it as their older work. Only when old hits like ‘Awake My Soul’ and ‘Lover Of The Light’ find their way into the set the audience really goes for it.

“This is more fun than last night, I’m not gonna lie. You guys are fucking up for it”, Marcus exclaims as he overlooks the crowd with a satisfied grin. The energy on stage is incredible and flows right through to the fans, especially when Marcus jumps into the crowd during ‘Ditmas’, hands grasping at every available part of him.

But the 3Arena really exploded when they fired a Sigh No More combo onto the many Mumford & Sons devotees. ‘The Cave’, ‘Roll Away Your Stone’ and ‘Little Lion Man’ proved that their hit-filled debut album is still a fan favourite, one that may be hard to top but shows they don’t shy away from their history.

‘Hot Gates’ kicks off their encore, but it’s their cover of Bruce Springsteen’s ‘I’m On Fire’ that gets everyone up on their feet again in the stands. Covering The Boss is playing with fire, but it probably helps that they’ve been on stage with the man before, learning from the best.

They sent everyone on their way with a resounding version of ‘The Wolf’, everyone singing along at the top of their lungs one last time before they walk off stage, praising the Dublin fans one last time,

‘You’ve been the best crowd we’ve had in a long time.’

They were unique when they came into the mainstream, and even if their latest album lost some of that early magic as so often happens, they’re still a damn good live band.

Photo Credit: Julia Schimkus. Check out her photo gallery from the first night right here.