We love you Mumfords, we do!
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IT was hard to imagine how the excitement that got people camping outside the Ironworks at midnight for Mumford & Sons tickets a few weeks back would hold out for the actual gig.
But like the reality of seeing the nu-folk champions live and acoustic on TV at the Brits recently or playing with Bob Dylan at the Grammys, it was proper thrilling, pinch-me stuff.
Particularly if you’d seen the band a couple of years back on one of their small Highland dates. Then the waistcoats and shirtsleeves look and retro acoustic sound had seemed eccentric and fresh at the same time.
On Tuesday, girls down the front, giddy with the thrill of it all, risked flash blindness to snap each other before the Mumfords hit the stage.
Carrbridge girl and band pal Rachel Sermanni was a natural choice for support. But she had the thankless task of warming up a crowd already hitting thermonuclear temperatures. The babble never piped down enough to give Rachel’s clear voice, guitar and quirky classics – Song To A Fox, Circus, Balcony and punchier The Fog – the silence they deserve.
“I could just say ‘Mumford’ and you guys would scream,” she giggled, before making her point.
And from the moment the band hit the stage with Below My Feet, the first new song of six likely to appear on the next album (with Love Was Kind, Hopeless Wanderer, Broken Crown, Lover Of The Light, Whispers In The Dark), the crowd couldn’t have been more up for it.
Balanced by eight of the 12 songs from September 2009’s debut album Sigh No More, the new songs fitted right in with the formula of angsty love, desire, light, shadow, temptation. All set to singalong melodies, yellable choruses, signature hoedowns and a learnability factor of easy peasy.
“Don’t test the ones you love,” went encore number Sister, not on the setlist.
But every test the band set, the crowd passed – erupting into frenzy for Love Was Kind, Roll Away Your Stone, Little Lion Man and encore finale The Cave.
Marcus Mumford thanked us for listening to new stuff, because “You’re very nice!” and flattering: “This is our favourite part of the world”.
Every time Ben Lovett bounced – chucking his mike stand in the pit on Dust Bowl Dance from pure passion – Ted Dwayne patted his heart with love for the crowd.
Right back at you, Mumfords.
