A few weeks ago I creeped a friend's blog and learned about a fabulous band from the UK: Mumford & Sons. It took me a while to remember that I live in Toronto where bands actually visit and play shows. So I looked them up and there was a sold out show this past Monday at Lee's Palace. A good friend and I grabbed two tickets on creeplist (read: Craigslist) and dutifully stood in line on Family Day to see them play. Oh yeah, the band. Mumford & Sons. We found ourselves standing about three rows (ie. 5 feet) from the stage and settled in for a good night.
The Opener: Sunparlour Players.
A two man/10 instrument act. Honestly, the lead singer also played guitar, bass and drums. The other member sang, played guitar, bass, drums, bell, xylophone, accordian, and one (both?) of them played banjo. Not-the-lead-singer guy (who looked like he may be an invesment banker by day) often played two instruments at one time. Oh look, no need for another band member, I'll just play bass AND xylophone AT ONE TIME. The music was folky rock and kinda gritty. Not sold enough to buy a CD but worth a listen.
The Main Attraction: Mumford & Sons. 4 young guys from the UK who also rotated instruments like crazy. They sang and played with every ounce of what they had and clearly loved performing together. Plus all 4 are very attractive. The lead singer has a strong and raw sounding voice that is, at first, unexpected but soon very familiar. It was their first show in Canada as the headliner so they were surprised that so many audience members knew all of the words to the songs (even though the album hasn't been released in Canada). All four laughed and joked with the crowd, although the young looking one on the guitar (Winston) was a mumbler and I never had any idea what he was trying to say. The band interspersed a few new songs in the show and all had the same folk style with enigmatic lyrics that characterizes the band. In the encore they surprised us with a sans-technology version of one of their older songs which just further highlighted their musicianship. It was a great show. I could easily go every week.
My current fave by Mumford & Sons. The Cave.
[ETA: somehow I double-posted the same video but I can't seem to edit one out. Woops!]
1 comment:
it's not creeping when i know you read :) and hooking people up with new music makes me very happy.
Post a Comment