Mumford and Sons + Supports

A sold out crowd greeted Mumford and Sons at the Nottingham leg of their tour on Saturday at the Capital FM Arena.

Warming the crowd up first were Post War Years, a four piece with a drummer who reminded The Tab of Animal from The Muppets with his sometimes frantic moves.

Their percussive sound, created by whacking drum sticks against anything they could, got the crowd limbered up, but perhaps not ‘pumping’.

The main support were DAWES, the American band. DAWES’ sound was a joyful combination of Paul Simon-esque harmony, American folk and some Santana sounding guitar solos (resulting in The Tab quoting the famous M&S advert).

At one point of their set the band really shook things up with an improvised interlude that sounded far more rocky than what the audience had heard.

DAWES, the main support act of the evening

It was apparent that the band wasn’t that well known here, but ‘Time Spent in Los Angeles’ from their 2011 album Nothing Is Wrong and ‘When My Time Comes’, are songs The Tab will be adding to revision playlists this Christmas.

What followed DAWES was slightly more alarming…

Piff the Magic Dragon was a quandary to us all. A man and his dog both in dragon costume.

Border-line animal cruelty ensued as the dog performed a moon walk, but Piff’s very dry sense of humour got the audience laughing, even if it was somewhat awkward at times.

Mumford and Sons were exemplary. How they manage to achieve such an outstanding performance every night is impossible to comprehend.

The vocals were flawless, the harmony was interesting and it was a true example of their supreme musicianship that has made them one of the best loved bands in the world.

They gave a perfect cross section of all of their songs, old and new, opening with Babel, the eponymous track from their latest album.

The set design created a festival vibe with strips of bulbs that lit up the arena during ‘Little Lion Man’.

Mumford and Sons are one of the ultimate festival bands, and so this could be the only slight complaint. During some of the slower songs it would have been ideal to kick back and just ‘absorb’, however I’m sure they’ll be a very popular attraction at T in The Park, where they will be headlining next year.

To round it all off Mumford brought Dawes to the stage to sing ‘With a Little Help From My Friends’. This was inexplicably good. The warm American twang from the Dawes’ front man’s voice blended perfectly.

The Captial FM Arena often hosts the biggest names, so keep an eye out to see what’s coming up in our amazing city https://www.capitalfmarena.com/Online/