Reviews
Mumford & Sons – Molson Canadian Amphitheatre, Toronto – June 13, 2016.
By Nicole Ireland
Photos by Lee-Ann Richer
The statement I am about to make is one that I do not take lightly and I do not toss around casually. The statement is as follows:
Mumford & Sons put on the best concert I’ve ever seen.
Now as I said, I take that statement very seriously. I’ve been to a lot of concerts, but in terms of sheer talent and musical/vocal ability, Mumford takes the cake.
About three seconds after the band walked onto the stage, the entire crowd at Molson Amp was up on their feet. They hadn’t even begun singing or playing anything, in fact, they hadn’t even made it to their microphones yet, but the whole crowd knew they were in for something amazing, therefore standing was necessary.
The second song into their set was Little Lion Man, an old favourite for just about every Mumford fan. When you pull out an acoustic guitar, a double bass, a piano, a violin, and a banjo, I’m sold. It was so entertaining to watch and absolutely perfect to listen to. I won’t even get started on the beautiful harmonies because that’s a whole different kind of perfect in itself.
One thing I noticed was that there wasn’t much stage banter. The band didn’t need to joke around and woo us with antics because the music spoke for itself. Although Marcus Mumford, lead singer and all-around wonderful human being, did keep asking us: “You okay?” which I thought was sweet. Naturally that was met with thunderous cheering each time.
It’s hard to pick a favourite moment from the best concert I’ve ever seen, but I’ve managed to narrow it down to two:
The first moment was when the band wanted to bring someone special on stage to sing a few songs with them. The man they chose was an amazing Senegalese musician named Baaba Maal. They’ve recorded some songs together, so he was brought out to perform them. I was in awe when he started to sing. The energy on stage was so infectious, I had chills the entire time. Search There Will be Time on Youtube so you can hear it; although I will give a disclaimer and say that it doesn’t even remotely compare to experiencing it live. Another great thing about his time on stage was that it happened to coincide with his birthday, so the entire crowd sang Happy Birthday.
The second moment was near the end of the set. Some of the band hopped off the stage and literally ran through the crowd, with Marcus still continuing to sing. The ban ran throughout the lawn area, and the crowd was losing their minds. They then ran between the barricade and the stage, and Marcus stopped to climb onto the crowd and feel their energy. He looked so genuinely happy, the crowd was thrilled, and I was just overwhelmed with delight. It was a really special moment.
The whopping six-song encore took the night over the top. I cannot sing my praises loud enough to express how this show made me feel. It was the exact euphoric feeling you are supposed to get when you see a live show. Thank you, Mumford & Sons, for giving me the best concert experience I’ve had to date.
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