KristyWes

Sigh No More


I see a brilliant career as a concert photographer in my future, no?


With all the hubbub of traveling and holidays and such, I forgot to post about last month's Mumford & Sons concert.  It was, in one oddly-spelled word, uh-MAZE-ing.

These British boys sold out Terminal Five for two nights in November, and it was the second night that CJ, MJ and I were lucky enough to see.  We opted to skip out on the opening acts in favor of girl talk, whiskey sours, and pulled pork sliders at a nearby pub (all very necessary), and arrived at the venue just in time to find a spot in the balcony and wait for the magic to happen.

And happen it did.  The band opened with "Sigh No More" followed by "Roll Away Your Stone," both favorites of mine, but the latter especially.  What is it about that tempo change towards the end of "Roll Away" that floors me every time??

Speaking of floors, the boards up in the balcony were shaking later on in the evening during "Awake My Soul."  Everyone was stomping and singing along with the chorus, "Awake my soul, awake my soul...for you were meant to meet your Maker."  It was a very surreal moment.  Mumford & Sons are not a Christian band, and the audience was secular (many, many bearded and flanneled hipsters in attendance), but there we all were - singing about our souls.  Truth is truth, and there are poetic nuggets of truth littered throughout these guys' lyrics.

In addition to all our "old" favorites, the band also played some new songs, and from the sound of these I'd say their sophomoric album should be promising.  I really loved the new tune "Lover of the Light," during which the lead singer laid down his guitar and took over the drum set like he OWNED it.  Serious talent in the room that night.

As it turns out, the opening acts we had missed were pretty talented as well.  Towards the end of the concert and into the encore, Mumford & Sons invited Cadillac Sky and King Charles to join them onstage for a few songs and it was great to see them all have so much FUN playing "Lady of the River."  Foot stomping? Multiple banjos? Horn solo? Yes, please. It looked like a jovial hobo hoedown - with the exception of King Charles, who must be an exception everywhere he goes (picture patent leather flats, a too-tight white satin jumpsuit and eight miles of huge hair).

In conclusion: awesome concert, awesome band, awesome evening.


Postscript: I just noticed that Mumford & Sons were nominated for a Best New Artist Grammy alongside...Justin Bieber?  How can this be? To be fair, I've never actually heard one of the Bieb's songs, and most of my info on his career comes from having to sit through the preview of his 3-D biopic in order to get to MegaMind, but still...I think Mr. Grammy and I may have disparate definitions of "best."