Mumford the Magnificent

Well, I failed at blogging about my cross-country trip, but at least I got through half of it! One of these days I might get around to writing about California. More food porn, and some wine porn, mmm.

Today we're going to do something a little different; while I'm sitting here at home on this gloomy, rainy morning, I'm going to think of happier things. I'm going to blog about the Mumford and Sons gig that I saw Tuesday night in Philadelphia! Hold on, it's going to be a long ride.



Concert buddy Liam and I left early for the city, which is about an hour and 15 minutes from our pathetic excuse for a hometown. Stopping only to chow down on guacamole burgers and...whatever Liam ate, I sped my Civic up 1-95 (yay five-speed!) and into Center City for what we both were sure was to be a fabulous night at the Electric Factory.

But oh, tragedy! By the time we arrived at 6:20, a good 40 minutes before the doors were set to open, the line was already wrapped around the building! I was fuming while we stood in line, so much so that Liam thought I was going to punch him to release the pent-up anger; I've been told more than once that despite my diminutive size and quiet mannerisms, I am very scary when I'm angry. (Grr?) Fortunately for us, however, and especially for Liam, most of the people who were in line in front of us are apparently alcoholics and went straight upstairs to the bar when we were let inside out of the cold, so we managed to snag spots only about five or six rows of heads from the front. However, the influx of people behind us meant that we couldn't move at all or else lose our places; I was looking at a four-hour span without a pee break. We also had an hour to wait before any form of entertainment began. Hmm.

Luckily, we befriended some girls near to us in the crowd and had a good time exchanging stories of gigs we'd attended as we waited for the opening act. Two ladies in front of us informed who the opening acts would be. We hadn't heard of either of them before, but were looking forward to their arrival. And when the first opener arrived- wow.

Have you ever heard of King Charles? No, not Charles I, who had his head cut off, or Charles II, that monarch remembered so fondly for his plethora of mistresses, bastards, and curly wigs. This King Charles is a musician, though he does have a plethora of hair, most of it falling wavy over his shoulders all the way down his chest, some tangled into dreadlocks at the back. I'm sure he could have a plethora of mistresses if he wanted to. This King Charles was dressed in a white body suit that left no crotch bump to the imagination, and a blue jacket with long tails. What on earth were we in for, we wondered? (I've since heard one reviewer describe him as looking like Voltaire; that's pretty close!) Here he is. Sorry I don't have a better photo:


Well. King Charles walked out on stage, introduced himself, and immediately began to sing, unaccompanied by instrument or voice; and it was beautiful. That first song was called "The Brightest Lights." I was surprised to learn after the concert that King Charles usually plays gigs with a band, as he does in most of the videos you'll find of him on YouTube. He played his whole set at the Electric Factory solo, only playing different guitars for each song, and I really enjoyed the intimate, acoustic air that it gave to his performance. I was shocked when I later watched his video for "Love Lust" and realized it wasn't acoustic, but both versions are amazing. All in all it was a fabulous set! Go to Youtube and have a listen, especially to "Love Lust" and "Lady of the River." Unfortunately, only one of his EPs, "Alone on the Throne," is available in the US Itunes store, so I'll have to get the others them some other way. That EP includes the songs "Oh England" and "Tomorrow's Fool."

Next up was a band with a very different look and origin: Cadillac Sky. They're a half dozen guys from the southern states, all in varying degrees of chub and beardiness, but they put on a hell of a show! Lots of upright bass, banjo, fiddle and guitar, and plenty of catchy tunes that were folksy without being too twangy. They had us singing along: "I am a monkey in a cage," was one memorable line, and they even brought Marcus out to play the drums for one song, which was a nice teaser of the wonder to come. Sadly, I don't really have any get photos of their set, soo...sorry. But they were incredible!

And then, finally, FINALLY, it was time for the main event.

As soon as Marcus, Ben, Ted and Country came out on stage, the packed venue went nuts. But the moment they opened their mouths, everyone went quiet. "Sigh no More" opened the show with quiet a cappella, and then the tickle of a single guitar before building up into a full-band effort. I was set adrift. My soul awoke even before they sang "Awake my Soul." Here's a great (for my basic camera) photo of Marcus from that song a little later on:



I believe this was the set list:
1. Sigh No More, 2. Roll Away Your Stone, 3.Winter Winds, 4. White Blank Page, 5. Below My Feet, 6. Timshel, 7. I Gave You All, 8. Little Lion Man, 9. Lover of the Light, 10. Thistle & Weeds, 11. Broken Crown, 12. After The Storm, 13. Awake My Soul, 14. Dust Bowl Dance. Encore: 1. Lady of the River (written by King Charles and performed with Cadillac Sky), 2. Wagon Wheel (Bob Dylan cover performed with Cadillac Sky), and finally, 3. The Cave
Fate had positioned me nearly directly in front of Marcus' mic. Honestly, my eyes were flicking back and forth between all of the band members, but during "Roll Away Your Stone," I got the feeling that Marcus was looking in my direction, if not right at me at a few moments! Actually, there were a couple of times when I was so certain we'd made eye contact, during "Winter Winds" and "White Blank Page" that my stomach actually flipped over! (I may or may not have had my flirty eyes on whenever that happened). But there is a point to this section rather than me just being a total fangirl. I just felt so close to all of these guys during the performance, like their music was being played to me, speaking to me alone, despite the crowd around me, and it was telling me that life is beautiful and everything will be okay. And for that, I thank the illusion of that eye contact. It made for an intimate and emotional experience.

Here's a cute picture of Country watching himself on the video screen after Ben told us he'd caught sight of himself on it while playing the previous song and it had really messed him up:


This was during a break in which the guys took some time to interact with the audience directly. Always appreciated. I'd go into detail about every song as well as I can remember, but that would take FOREVER and frankly get a bit tedious, I think. So, onwards we go.

Quite honestly, I don't think I've ever seen a group of musicians play with so much feeling. Every word that came out of Marcus' mouth was dripping with passion. They all held their instruments like lovers. Another amazing thing about this gig is that everyone in the audience knew every word to every song. Sometimes, the audience was singing so loudly that I was sure the people all the way in the back couldn't hear the guys singing! A hush fell over us all at pivotal moments though, as I'll describe later.


The guys ended their original set with "Dustbowl Dance," a song whose power I never fully appreciated until seeing it live. Marcus beat the crap out of the drum set for the whole thing...and anyway, how many musicians do we know who can play the drums and sing lead simultaneously?? Talk about talent. When this song reached its pinnacle everyone was jumping up and down like maniacs or at least rocking back and forth in a more violent fashion than they had been during other songs. When Marcus stumbled to the microphone to sing the last few lines of the song, the audience went almost dead silent. "I went out back and I got my gun, I said 'you haven't met me, I am the only son.'" Silence again. Then "thank you so much Philadelphia!" said Marcus, who looked absolutely exhausted. Then the guys scurried off stage for some much-needed water and a few moments' rest, I assume.

Encore time! After a few minutes of frantic, near-hysterical cheering and clapping, the guys came out again, this time joined by King Charles (who looked a lot more mellow and kept playing with his long, white scarf...hmm) and Cadillac Sky. They played for us one of King Charles' songs, "Lady of the River," a glorious group effort. After that, King Charles slipped away from the front of the stage and the folk scene took over for a cover of Bob Dylan's "Wagon Wheel," which they drew out for at least a good five minutes. "I can't believe you people know the words to this song!" Marcus spluttered into the microphone at one point. And indeed, more people than I'd expected were singing along! Here's a couple shots of everyone during "Lady of the River:"




Just look at the emotion on all of those faces! Unbelievable, I'm telling you.

Then there was time for one last Mumfords-only song. "The Cave,' 'The Cave,' it has to be 'The Cave!'" I was whispering frantically to no one in particular, and indeed, it was! Like "Dustbowl Dance," this one had the crowd jumping and surging and screaming almost every word. "I'll know my name as it's called again!" Marcus sang, before the final slamming of instruments. A fitting irony, I think, to end a gig with a song whose final word is "again." The crowd went insane, but of course, we all knew that this time, it was really over. There would be no more.

After the guys left the stage, Liam and I and our new friends stood still and let the crowd surge out around us. I personally wasn't ready to accept that the show was over. I stood rooted to the spot in an almost stupefied state, amazed by what I'd just seen and heard, and feeling a sensation somewhere between ecstasy at what I'd just experienced and despair that it was over.

A few die-hards stood under the stage harrassing the roadies and were rewarded with set lists, drumsticks, or guitar picks. One of our new friends nearly got into a fist fight over a drumstick- I chose not to get involved. When things had cleared out a bit, I made my way to the much-needed restroom. When I came out , Liam grabbed me and yelled "I just shook King Charles' hand!" then flew me over to the merch area, where there the king was indeed holding court (and thankfully, not wearing those very distrating spandex pants). I shook his hand, thanked him for a wonderful performance, and asked if I could get a picture. "Sure!" he said, and with that, used my hand (which he was still holding) to twirl me around in a ballroom dance-like circle before tucking me under his chin for the picture. I'd been so surprised by that that I was just barely keeping me balance on the tips of my toes. Thusly, I falling into him when the shutter went off. My dad said later of this incident, "I'm sure he didn't mind." I like to think he's right. (Is that his hair or mine draped across my forehead?)


We also got to meet almost all of the guys from Cadillac Sky! Some were a little more shy than others, but they appreciated the sentiment when we told them what an awesome show they'd put on. When I met the fiddle player, I shook his hand and gushed about how much I loved watching him play. "Oh, do you play?" he asked me. "Oh God no, I wish!" I said, and laughed. It's true. I've always wished I could play the violin or the cello, but I've unfortunately never had the opportunity to learn. Hearing those instruments awakes a very poignant sense of longing in me.

Once we'd met the other guys from Cadillac Sky, once security kicked us out. Along with our new friends, Liam and I made our way around to the side of the building to wait for Mumford and Sons to appear! We waited in the cold and wind for nearly an hour, watching the roadies pack up equipment, before anything interesting happened. First the Cadillac Sky guys and King Charles came out to sign a few more autographs before getting on the bus. Then we waited around for a while longer, shivering and stamping our feet. Then, Ted and Ben came out and a cheer went up! We patiently waited our turn for them to come around, which luckily didn't take too long.

Here are our new friends, Caitlin and Claire, with keyboardist/vocalist Ben Lovett:

Ben was very nice. I didn't get a photo with him, but he wrote the following message on my recently-acquired tour poster:

"Aidan,
your [sic] cold. It's November. We're in Philadelphia. You waited to say hi. Thank you!
Love,
Ben."

Here's Liam and I with bassist/vocalist Ted Dwane:


Ted was SO sweet! He took the time to shake each of our hands and introduce himself (as if the four of us hadn't hysterically screamed his name at several points during the show; "oh, that was you!!" he said when we told him) and very sweetly thanked us for coming. Everything about his expression and demeanor while he talked to us was just so humble. Plus he signed my poster with "all my love, Ted." C'mon, that's adorable.

Aaand right around two o'clock in the morning, we finally got to meet Marcus Mumford himself :)

He looks exhausted, and I look like a total fan girl, but I am so happy that this happened. By the time he finally came out of the building, the barriers had been put away and security had gone home. There were less than a dozen of us left, and I'm betting there had been close to 50 right after the show. There was nothing between us when he came around! He looked completely shocked when he came out onto the steps, guitar case in hand, bottle of booze in the other. He said something along the lines of "oh my god, I had no idea people were still out here!" and came down the steps to talk to us. He apologized to everyone for keeping us waiting; "look at you, you're freezing!" he said to the girl next to me, who was visibly shivering. "Did you drink all of that tonight?" the girl asked him, gesturing to the half-empty bottle. "Oh God no!" he laughed.

I don't actually remember what we said to each other; it can't have been much. But look how happy I am in that picture! After that, autographs and photos obtained, Liam and I skipped back to the car to warm ourselves and get the heck home. We wanted to wait for Country (or Winnie, as some fans affectionately refer to him), but it was cold and very late. 3/4 isn't bad.

So, here we are a week later and I'm still grinning like an idiot whenever I hear one of their songs (which is often, because I can't stop listening) and when I think about meeting them and talking to them. That show was probably the best collective of live music I've ever seen, and I'm so grateful that I managed to get tickets before they sold out! I couldn't possibly have understood completely what I was missing, but it still would have been a freaking bummer.

The verdict? Five stars out of five. GO AND SEE THESE GUYS AT THE NEXT AVAILABLE OPPORTUNITY. And look up King Charles and Cadillac Sky. Do it, do it now! Tonight, Mumford are performing the very last gig of their North American tour in New York City, but I have no doubt that they'll be back, so be sure to see them the next time around!

Also, I may or may not have written the band a nice note on their Facebook to thank them for the great performance...and to invite any of them to come back and marry me. Let's just say I took it hard when I found out that Marcus is dating Laura Marling. I also took it hard when I found a photo of Ted cuddled up with some blond chick on the tour bus who I think I actually saw there with them that night. Meh. I forgive them, I guess, especially since being in love is probably a rather large contributing factor in the making of such beautiful, beautiful music.

(If you're reading this, gents, I'll wait for youuu!)