Mumford & Sons, 9:30 Club, Washington DC
Who says you can't dance to folk music?
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Folk often gets a bad rap for being the domain of somnolent, badly-dressed hippies, seated on stools, bleating on about the rolling countryside or lamenting a farmer's labours. That kind of music tends not attract the kind of crowd present at the 9:30 Club Thursday night. A nice mix - men and women, singles and couples, young and old - filled the famous Washington venue to see the current kings of London nu-folk, Mumford and Sons. The sold-out show was filled with punters who had surely heard of, and became enamoured with, the band through electronic word of mouth (just two days previous, Mumford and Sons played their first-ever American network television appearance, 'The Cave' on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon).
From the first angelic harmonies of their first song, 'Sigh No More', one could tell this was going to be an extraordinary night. With songs like 'I Gave You All' and 'White Blank Page', they tell amazing stories that dripped with emotions, which is expected for a band like them. Mumford and Sons might be classified as a folk band on paper for the ease of record shops but they are much more than that. For the more lively numbers like 'The Cave', they take a slightly different approach, looking more like a hard rock or metal band as they headbang and play their instruments with reckless abandon. Sometimes, leader Marcus Mumford would leave his guitar and microphone at the front of the stage so he could sing as well as strike the drum kit set up in the back vigorously with fuzzy timpani mallets. Not exactly what you envision when the two words 'folk band' cross your mind. This craziness on the stage in turn caused an impromptu hootenanny on the floor, bodies bumping. For a moment, it felt more like a Hot Chip show than a Mumford and Sons one.
During a raucous version of 'Roll Away Your Stone', members of the support band Middle East came back onstage in various stages of undress, wielding hand percussion as Mumford's members went at it, firing on all cylinders. Keyboardist Ben Lovett recklessly tickles the ivories like he was Jerry Lee Lewis incarnate, and Marcus Mumford looks as if he's in his element, strumming his guitar and kicking a bass drum as if his life depended on it. Fans eagerly join the hoedown, bouncing up and down to the band's wild playing. It was a sight that is doubtful to be repeated anytime soon in Washington, let alone the 9:30 Club. Who says you can't dance to folk music?
But the sweaty yet enthused crowd feels robbed after the sole song in Mumford's encore, a new one called 'Whispers in the Dark'. Where was 'Winter Winds'? No matter. Marcus Mumford indicated many times during their set that they much liked Washington so they can just include it in their set the next time they come back to town.
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