MUMFORD & SONS at The Air Canada Centre, Tuesday, October 25. Rating: NNN
“Are you alright? It’s not too big, is it?” said Marcus Mumford at one point during his band’s nearly two hour long set at the Air Canada Centre.
Well, actually, yes, the ACC is larger, cooler and boomier than ideal for Mumford & Sons at times foot-stompingly rowdy, at times
intimate and subdued folk-rock. But the award-winning UK group managed to fill up most of the stadium in what Mumford referred to as “by far and away double the largest show we’ve done ourselves”.
Flanked by flashing banks of lights with strings of lights hanging from the ceiling, the fleshed-out band (with Texan fiddler Ross Holmes and a three-person horn section) filled the stadium sonically, though some of Mumford’s vocals were swallowed by the room. A huge part of the band’s appeal comes from rhythm-focused instrument swapping — notably Mumford’s bluegrass-inspired guitar playing and occasional
drum solos and drummer Ben Lovett’s turns on the piano.
Fans sang along word for word to many of the songs off of Sigh No More, and at one point the crowd seemed to overpower the singer, who just sort of smiled and stopped playing. The band also tried out a number of new songs — and one brand new — almost apologizing for their quietness and newness.
The new material, including Lover Of The Light, had a more positive romantic bent (rumour has it that Mumford is engaged). The band also played Neil Young’s Dance Dance Dance (Mumford’s British accent shone through here) and the popular Little Lion Man with a false ending and reprise.
There was a lot of love between the band and the crowd and the audience freaked every time the camera focused on a Canadian flag on the side of a slide guitar. But that’s the thing — something of that rapport is certainly lost when you have to strain to catch a concert black and white on a big screen.
