One of the first “proper” albums I downloaded onto my electric blue iPod nano – after graduating from Hannah Montana and the soundtrack to High School Musical 2 – was Mumford & Sons’ 2012 album, Babel. I loved the vigorous choruses, the dependable sound of the banjo and Marcus Mumford’s crooning voice. On school trips, I would find a quiet corner of the bus and crank up the volume: whoever had the misfortune of sitting next to me would get a second-hand dose of it as the sound leaked out through my cheap, tinny earphones.
So it was surreal to see this folk-rock trio perform live 12 years later at London’s O2 Arena. The band has changed a lot: the lead guitarist (and banjo player) Winston Marshall, departed in 2021 and is now a podcast host. Marcus Mumford released a solo album, (self-titled), in 2022 following an intervention by his wife and family after years of struggling with alcohol and eating habits. To their detractors, Mumford & Sons are often reduced to “banjos and waistcoats”, a description best left in the early 2010s.
But as the band took to the stage at the O2 on 10 December, they appeared to have matured from this twee description. The waistcoats have gone, although the banjo remains. Tracks from their later albums, like Delta and Rushmore, offer a more robust, introspective side to the band (but it was their earlier tracks which consistently got the audience up and moving). After two decades on the road, they are electrifying performers. Dressed in a white T-shirt and loose black trousers, Mumford threw himself across the stage. Guitar in hand, he dissolved into the intense rhythms of crowd-pleasers like “Little Lion Man” and “The Cave” before drifting into the earnestness of “Guiding Light” and “Awake My Soul”. It was an elegant mix of the stompy, clappy songs that have driven the band’s popularity and those that reveal a more thoughtful side.
The most remarkable aspect of this homecoming gig was Mumford himself. The band’s chief songwriter and lead singer has graduated aesthetically from folk darling to full on rock-frontman. Mumford’s gentle country vibe has morphed into something more radical; he is simultaneously a vibrant rock performer and an indie-folk pin-up, with the jewellery and tattoos to match. Over the course of this tour, TikTok has been full of reels putting this transformation down to the “Carey Mulligan effect” (the actress is Mumford’s wife of 13 years and childhood sweetheart).
And Mumford is clearly loving it. At the start of the gig, he called out to gig-goers in the O2’s stands, telling them to stand up and dance for the next song and reassuring them that the person behind them will still be able to see: “as long as you’re not a dickhead”. During “Ditmas”, the third single from Mumford & Sons third studio album, Wilder Mind, Mumford leapt from the stage and ran through the crowd, dipping and diving through fans, behind seats and down staircases. A spotlight followed him. So did the screams of fans.
Despite this aesthetic shift, the band haven’t strayed too far from their folkish roots. As the gig drew to a close, they opened their encore with their most well-known anthem, “I Will Wait” before moving on to a new track, “Conversation with My Son” (Gangsters & Angels) – a softer, more reflective tune – which will be released in an upcoming album. Mumford told the audience this song is the most authentically “Mumford & Sons” music they have produced to date. I can’t help but disagree. If the rising excitement that flooded through the O2 as Mumford played the opening chords to “Babel” is anything to go by, there is nothing wrong with “banjos and waistcoats”.
Mumford & Sons headline BST Hyde Park on 4 July, visit www.bst-hydepark.com
[Further reading: CMAT’s subversive hoedown]
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