Who: Mumford & Sons with Dawes
When: August 7, 2012
Where: Constellation Brands Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center/ Canandaigua, NY
With: Colleen & her sister Beth
Of Note: Sometimes I just have a lot of feelings, okay?
How awesome of a story is Mumford & Sons? Plus, how awesome is this resurgence of folk-inspired music? I mean, a song that prominently features a banjo won a 'Best Rock Song' grammy. That's pretty boss. One of the things I just can't get over with them is they sound simultaneously like they are from the past and like they are from the future. They overwhelm me, just a little.
There were two opening bands, the first of which we missed due to some insane traffic getting into CMAC. No big deal. The second opener, Dawes, was very good. They hit that sweet spot between "jam band" and "indie rock" that has come to feel like home to me. I really liked the song 'Fire Away'; my notes indicate that it, "had a bitchin' guitar solo."
I also really liked the song 'It's a Little Bit of Everything', the lyric "making up for when his bright future had left him" seeming to stick out the most, though Colleen insisted it was legitimately about a food buffet (I'm pretty sure it's not). They also had an airplane song that used tom toms that for one hot minute reminded me of moe.'s 'Plane Crash'. The lead singer told a story about how the guys from Mumford & Sons were not only great musicians, but really great guys. It made me, "awwww," just a little. I've since checked out Dawes' oeuvre on Spotify and have to say that I'm a fan.
When Mumford & Sons came out, the energy was palpable. The stage set up was really cool - there were a whole bunch of disc like things hung at different depths around the stage, that changed color of lights and there were strings of globe bulb lights that hung from halfway up the arena down to the stage. It made it seem like a much more intimate show than it was - it was a bar set up not an amphitheater set up, if that makes sense. Like, they were able to create an intimate space but one that still played well to the huge crowd.
The second song of the night was 'Little Lion Man' and, predictably, the crowd went nuts. And then the lights kicked in. The string lights and the disc lights, all set to "white", went crazy and it looked like fireworks. It was awesome.
On my way to the show, I heard Mumford & Sons new single, 'I Will Wait' debut on AltNation. I was immediately smitten. Like, by the time the first chorus, quieter and more acoustic that the banjo driven verse, was played, I was in love. Then, the second chorus rolled around and it was so much bigger and the longing was palpable and I was head over heels. When they introduced the song, I may or may not have yelled, "I'm on the bleeding edge!" jumped up and down, and shrieked briefly. Live, it was magic. I've had it on repeat for days.
'Blank White Pages' was beautiful, again, the yearning in Marcus' voice is an actual thing that you can feel and it rounded out with the whole band doing a capella harmonies on the closing 'my whole heart' and it was gorgeous. It could have sounded quiet or tinny, but it filled the space and drew you in. I made a note that I couldn't understand how the majority of these songs were simultaneously so melancholy and so sensual. Like, kissing someone while crying is usually so awkward but that's exactly what the majority of this makes you want to do. Sit down in someone's lap and cry all over his face while you kiss the heck out of him (just me?).
The band was also really gracious, marveling at their success and sincerely thanking the crowd for being there and all the support. Marcus told a funny story about how the success hadn't really sunk in and that, from his perspective, the only thing that had changed from playing pubs was that he had strawberries in his gin & tonic before this show. Colleen thought he said, "a strawberry in his genitals," which was not what he said. And also really gross.
After another one of the new songs, one with a big horn section feature, one that sounded a lot like an anthem of some sort, I decided that their new album, 'Babel', is probably my very favorite album ever because of how much I liked what I'd heard so far. It's also worth noting that Winston Marshall deserves a shout out for the most sexually charged banjo playing I've ever seen. Like, he was preening around like an 80s guitar rock God...only with a banjo.
The guys from Dawes joined in for 'Awake My Soul' which was a great melding of talent. M&S indicated that Dawes knew the arrangement better, so if anything went awry, they weren't to be blamed. The camaraderie between the groups was fun to see.
And then, the last encore of 'The Cave' blew everyone's minds, all sing along and dance along and a wall of sound and insane light show.
Overall, it was such a great show - perfect weather, a Dinosaur BBQ pulled pork sandwich, a largely grown-up unobnoxious crowd, the ability to dance like you were at a hoe-down. I will say that a venue that big for a first album tour was, maybe, just a bit of a stretch; you could tell they were still growing into it. Colleen noted that she would have liked to see a bit more jamming, a bit less straight from the album, which was fair. But, the thing that I love most about live music, the emotional resonance - the ability to hear the story of the songs told in person, Mumford & Sons nailed. It was such a treat and I am chomping to get my hands on their September release, my very favorite album ever. (This week, for now.)
When: August 7, 2012
Where: Constellation Brands Marvin Sands Performing Arts Center/ Canandaigua, NY
With: Colleen & her sister Beth
Of Note: Sometimes I just have a lot of feelings, okay?
How awesome of a story is Mumford & Sons? Plus, how awesome is this resurgence of folk-inspired music? I mean, a song that prominently features a banjo won a 'Best Rock Song' grammy. That's pretty boss. One of the things I just can't get over with them is they sound simultaneously like they are from the past and like they are from the future. They overwhelm me, just a little.
There were two opening bands, the first of which we missed due to some insane traffic getting into CMAC. No big deal. The second opener, Dawes, was very good. They hit that sweet spot between "jam band" and "indie rock" that has come to feel like home to me. I really liked the song 'Fire Away'; my notes indicate that it, "had a bitchin' guitar solo."
I also really liked the song 'It's a Little Bit of Everything', the lyric "making up for when his bright future had left him" seeming to stick out the most, though Colleen insisted it was legitimately about a food buffet (I'm pretty sure it's not). They also had an airplane song that used tom toms that for one hot minute reminded me of moe.'s 'Plane Crash'. The lead singer told a story about how the guys from Mumford & Sons were not only great musicians, but really great guys. It made me, "awwww," just a little. I've since checked out Dawes' oeuvre on Spotify and have to say that I'm a fan.
When Mumford & Sons came out, the energy was palpable. The stage set up was really cool - there were a whole bunch of disc like things hung at different depths around the stage, that changed color of lights and there were strings of globe bulb lights that hung from halfway up the arena down to the stage. It made it seem like a much more intimate show than it was - it was a bar set up not an amphitheater set up, if that makes sense. Like, they were able to create an intimate space but one that still played well to the huge crowd.
The second song of the night was 'Little Lion Man' and, predictably, the crowd went nuts. And then the lights kicked in. The string lights and the disc lights, all set to "white", went crazy and it looked like fireworks. It was awesome.
On my way to the show, I heard Mumford & Sons new single, 'I Will Wait' debut on AltNation. I was immediately smitten. Like, by the time the first chorus, quieter and more acoustic that the banjo driven verse, was played, I was in love. Then, the second chorus rolled around and it was so much bigger and the longing was palpable and I was head over heels. When they introduced the song, I may or may not have yelled, "I'm on the bleeding edge!" jumped up and down, and shrieked briefly. Live, it was magic. I've had it on repeat for days.
'Blank White Pages' was beautiful, again, the yearning in Marcus' voice is an actual thing that you can feel and it rounded out with the whole band doing a capella harmonies on the closing 'my whole heart' and it was gorgeous. It could have sounded quiet or tinny, but it filled the space and drew you in. I made a note that I couldn't understand how the majority of these songs were simultaneously so melancholy and so sensual. Like, kissing someone while crying is usually so awkward but that's exactly what the majority of this makes you want to do. Sit down in someone's lap and cry all over his face while you kiss the heck out of him (just me?).
The band was also really gracious, marveling at their success and sincerely thanking the crowd for being there and all the support. Marcus told a funny story about how the success hadn't really sunk in and that, from his perspective, the only thing that had changed from playing pubs was that he had strawberries in his gin & tonic before this show. Colleen thought he said, "a strawberry in his genitals," which was not what he said. And also really gross.
After another one of the new songs, one with a big horn section feature, one that sounded a lot like an anthem of some sort, I decided that their new album, 'Babel', is probably my very favorite album ever because of how much I liked what I'd heard so far. It's also worth noting that Winston Marshall deserves a shout out for the most sexually charged banjo playing I've ever seen. Like, he was preening around like an 80s guitar rock God...only with a banjo.
The guys from Dawes joined in for 'Awake My Soul' which was a great melding of talent. M&S indicated that Dawes knew the arrangement better, so if anything went awry, they weren't to be blamed. The camaraderie between the groups was fun to see.
And then, the last encore of 'The Cave' blew everyone's minds, all sing along and dance along and a wall of sound and insane light show.
Overall, it was such a great show - perfect weather, a Dinosaur BBQ pulled pork sandwich, a largely grown-up unobnoxious crowd, the ability to dance like you were at a hoe-down. I will say that a venue that big for a first album tour was, maybe, just a bit of a stretch; you could tell they were still growing into it. Colleen noted that she would have liked to see a bit more jamming, a bit less straight from the album, which was fair. But, the thing that I love most about live music, the emotional resonance - the ability to hear the story of the songs told in person, Mumford & Sons nailed. It was such a treat and I am chomping to get my hands on their September release, my very favorite album ever. (This week, for now.)
Comments
Post a Comment