“It's a little bit different than the Hotel Café,” Marcus Mumford told the sold-out crowd at the Hollywood Bowl Saturday night. Last weekend, the biggest name in folk this year performed in front of one of their largest crowds to date. Performing in front of more than 17,000, Mumford & Sons delivered a folk lover’s dream at the Bowl. Spanning through their repertoire of feet-stomping, banjo-playing songs, Mumford brought the crowd to their feet, which surprised even him.
“[In Australia], we spent the whole time asking people to stand up, but you were standing when we got here,” he told the audience Saturday night.
From the Hotel Café to the Hollywood Bowl
Four years ago, Mumford & Sons booked their first gig in Los Angeles at the Hotel Café in Hollywood, which seats just over 150 people. This year, they released their second album, which has become the best-selling record of 2012, beating out both Justin Bieber and Madonna. After touring in Australia for the past month, the band decided to play a show in Los Angeles before embarking on the second leg of their tour in Europe.
Since their performance at the Grammys in 2011, Mumford & Sons have been found on the radio and iPods, and in Biola’s case, record players, across the country. They’ve earned six Grammy nominations and a performance at the popular music festival Coachella. But what exactly makes this band so popular? What is the driving factor behind their success? The answer to that could be found at the concert Saturday night.
Taking the stage at 9:10 p.m., the familiar opening strum of their title track “Babel” hit the air and the band hit the ground running. They played with such intensity and passion that they were able to make a connection with audience as if to say, “Hey! We’re having as much fun up here as you are.”
Keyboardist Ben Lovett told the audience, “But let’s forget about the sense of occasion and have a dance" right before jumping into “Little Lion Man.” Despite the huge crowd, Mumford was able to connect with the audience, giving their concert a more personal feel. This is why everyone and their mother loves Mumford these days. When you can hear a band not only play with passion, but enjoy every minute of a routine-based career, then you’ve found something special.
An even balance
I understand that Biola’s latest fad is Mumford & Sons, while others remark how they can find no difference between each album. Their familiar chord progressions and somewhat deep lyrics affect some, while others are simply unimpressed. But before you scoff at yet another banjo solo, respect the band as musical artists. Not once does the band turn to an overdose of autotune or studio gimmicks on either album. It was simply a guitar, banjo, piano, double bass and a few other standard folk instruments. Needless to say, they were able to perform their tracks with the same caliber and quality as their studio takes. This is a rare feat not seen too often in today’s music mainstream. And for that, I tip my cap to Mumford & Sons.
As far as the setlist was concerned, the band covered hits from both albums including favorites such as “The Cave” and “I Will Wait,” as well as their more poetic tracks, such as “Timshel” and “Where Are You Now?” The biggest surprise for concert attendees was when Mumford announced one more song after “The Cave” — causing the audience to question why they were not ending with their biggest hit. They brought to stage their opening act, Dawes, and the bands performed together Joe Cocker’s version of the Lennon-McCartney classic “With a Little Help from My Friends,” bringing the audience to their feet once again. In my experiences with concerts, I have never had more respect for a band than during that moment. Not only did they end with a song that was not their own, but they acknowledged their first act. Once again, you don’t have to like their music, but you have to respect the classy move on their part.
With the heavy population of Biola students I ran into at the concert, it was almost like being at a Saturday night Singspiration without the Christian music. However, the concert did have its spiritual moments. Much of the band’s music does in fact have spiritual undertones in songs such as “Below My Feet” and “Awake My Soul.”
"We're fans of faith, not religion."
However, the band’s frontman told the The Big Issue, a street newspaper based in London, in an interview “I don’t even call myself a Christian. Spirituality is the word we engage with more. We’re fans of faith, not religion.” This isn’t to say we should stop listening to them, but rather be cautious in analyzing their songs for deeper Christian meanings. Despite the non-biblical music, their lyrics still hold some truth to them. “Where you invest your love, you invest your life — that’s what we believe,” Mumford told the crowd during the chorus of “Awake My Soul.”
Mumford & Sons will continue their tour in the UK, take a trip to the East Coast in February, and then return to Europe until April. There is no statement as to when the band will return to Los Angeles, but there are many of us who hope it will be soon.
