Mumford and Sons play Lollapalooza

The band impresses as the crowd disappoints

 

 

As soon as The Lumineers finished up their last song on the Lakeshore Stage Saturday night, Mumford & Sons began their headlining set with the powerful and beautiful song “Babel” off of their album of the same name. What should have been an incredible 3 hours of music from the two best indie folk rock acts in decades, became a setting for the crowd to talk. You could barely even hear the Lumineers over the gabby chatter boxes and while Mumford and Sons were louder, that just encouraged the crowd to shout so their friends could hear them over that pesky background music. “Not to get all Andy Rooney on you”, but come on Chicago, you're better than this.

This headlining set at Lollapalooza was Mumford & Sons first show since bassist Ted Dwayne survived his emergency brain surgery, which forced the band to cancel several shows including the Bonnaroo Music Festival. Mumford acknowledged this by declaring, “Ted's Alive, yes!” Keyboardist Ben Lovett and banjo player Winston Marshall applauded along with the crowd and Dwayne appeared to be blushing from the attention

 

When Mumford & Sons played their hits, “Little Lion Man” and set closer “The Cave”, the crowd became energized and attentive. These all too brief interludes were what the entire show should have been. The crowd singing and dancing as a collective whole while Marcus Mumford strums his guitar like it's his only mission in life while participating in impossibly good harmonies with the rest of the band. The sole cover in the set was a beautiful, acoustic rendition of Bruce Springsteen's “I'm On Fire”, in which the entire band surrounded one microphone and softly sang the love song. Bassist Ted Dwayne’s back-up vocals were especially moving. The only reason fans could hear this magical moment was because before the song, Marcus Mumford announced to the crowd that they were going to do something quiet and special. “It requires that we all shut the fuck up for a minute,” he instructed in a charming, but effective way.

I have seen hundreds, if not thousands of shows in my day and the more accessible and popular the band, the worse the talking becomes. The new phenomenon that Mumford and Son's set presented was that people wanted to talk, but they also wanted to be close to the band. They wanted to take photos of themselves with the stage in the background and hop up onto their boyfriend's shoulders so that they could bask in the glory of being seen. Perhaps real music geeks who actually want to hear the show just aren't compatible with the general population that indulge in radio friendly hits. Maybe people are getting ruder and more self involved. Or maybe, I was just in the wrong place and I should have went to go see “The Postal Service” with a crowd who actually wants to experience the show. 

Full Setlist

1. Babel
2. Little Lion Man
3. Whispers in the Dark
4. Winter Winds
5. Holland Road
6. Below My Feet
7. Timshel
8. I Will Wait
9. Lover of the Light
10. Thistle & Weeds
11. Ghosts That We Knew
12. Hopeless Wanderer
13. Roll Away Your Stone
14. Awake My Soul
15. Dust Bowl Dance
     
    Encore:
16. Lovers' Eyes
17. I'm on Fire
    (Bruce Springsteen cover)
18. The Cave