MUMFORD & SONS
Enmore Theatre, January 19
Reviewed by NATHANAEL COOPER
It’s a peculiar affection Australia has with Mumford & Sons, the British folk-rock act who have taken out our hottest 100 and have enough popularity here to play stadiums.
Mumford & Sons reach back into their folk-tinged catalogue of hits in Brisbane.Credit:Lydia Lynch
Seeing them live you can’t help but feeling they are an indie folk band who accidentally stumbled upon commercial success and still aren’t entirely sure what to do with it.
The result of the success is a steady jaunt from their early folk-with-an-edge-of-rock roots to a dabble in rock-with-an-edge-of-folk.
The result is a live show that lurches from genre to genre without any warning signs the pace is about to change.
It must be a nightmare for them to pick a set list.
Off the back of a sold-out gig at Qudos on Friday night, the band made their way to the Enmore, a more intimate venue that really does seem more appropriate space for a band of posh British lads to appear.
The group really feels like the sort of act that should be being booked for festivals, and the highlights of the Enmore show was definitely the moments they pared everything back to an entirely acoustic version of Where Are You Now, the bonus track from 2012’s Babel, that was spine-tingling and edge-of-your-seat engaging, or when they went off mic, asked the audience to turn off their technology for 4 minutes and softly sang Timshel from 2009’s Sigh No More.
Under the stars in the Byron Bay Parklands, these would have been musical memories you would reflect on from your deathbed. At The Enmore, it was about as good as it could have been, and getting 2000 people to practically hold their breath while you sing is a remarkable feat.
Their foray into the alt-rock space hit less successfully. Neither Mumford, nor any of his sons, are natural creatures of the stage, and four blokes in black awkwardly standing around is not a particularly compelling moment of stagecraft.
More intimate venues suit the posh British lads
Towards the end of the set, things livened up a little and Winston Marshall did some impressive shredding while thrusting near the drums, but it was nothing compared to the intense quiet this group can achieve.
The Enmore’s intimacy also perfectly suits Mumford's vocals, both on the bigger songs and the quiet tracks; sitting in a small room you do get to hear the excellent quality of his voice that has extraordinary power and vulnerability pushing through at the same time.
But apart from some shining moments the show never seemed to know what it was, a folk act having a crack at stadium style music in a venue that sits somewhere in between is a confusing experience.
But Australia’s peculiar affection for this group seems to dictate that as long as Little Lion Man and I Will Wait feature somewhere in the set they are happy to go along for the ride.
And they did.
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