Mumford And Sons gigs in London are like buses in London - you wait ages, then they all come at once. Only a few weeks since their excellent Borderline gig, the band were back, this time at the Scala for what is probably their biggest headline show to date. The show had actually been set for April, and almost sold out since then, so it is fair to say that anticipation was high. You know you are getting somewhere as a band when there are touts outside your gig, and by this yardstick, evidently Mumford And Sons are starting to get big. Inside the venue were a lot of what seemed to me to be London students - lots of checked shirts, cardigans and floppy haircuts, and a fair few female fans. I wrote after their Borderline gig that Mumford And Sons reminded me of the Magic Numbers in the early part of their career - and the crowd at this gig definitely seemed to bear that out. There were lots of couples there to see a band that will probably become a very acceptable band to take a girl on a date to see.
Anyway, enough about the audience. I managed to catch a few songs from the main support band, a band whose name makes them quite difficult to find with a simple Google search. King Charles isn't the easiest band name to find online, but there we go. Their singer was wearing a very tight and bright stripy leotard type thing - and with crazy dreadlocks, he looked generally very "alternative". No, actually, he looked like a total state. So, at first glance, I thought "I am going to hate this lot" - which meant it was a very pleasant surprise when I heard their songs. They played some decently catchy, quite funky songs, with a drummer that looked a bit like Boris Johnson, and this singer leaping madly around the stage. He generally seemed a bit needy of attention, and everything he did screamed "LOOK AT ME" - but the songs sounded good, and that's all that matters I suppose.
By the time Mumford And Sons ambled onto the stage, there had been quite a wait since the support band, which meant that the anticipation had built to quite a level. They walked on stage, and stood fiddling with their instruments for a minute or so, as the spontaneous cheers and applause filled the venue - without them even having played a note. When they did play a note, it was to kick off with the incredibly powerful and atmospheric Sigh No More, the title track and opening track from their new album. The way that this (like many of their songs) starts off quietly, then builds to such a rich finale, can send a shiver down your spine when you are watching and listening. Fantastic band.
This was one of the first gigs where the band have been touring their album as such, so it gave a good opportunity to hear how those excellent early demos and EP tracks have been translated into an album. They had an extra 5 musicians at the back of the stage, so the sound was definitely deeper and more complex - but for me, this took something away from the beautiful simplicity of 4 people playing acoustic instruments. In a way, the extra musicians added bits to the songs, and meant that the real band had to work a bit less hard - but it seemed to take away from the intensity of it all, to some degree. Still, with songs as good as they have, I'm sure their album and their live set will win them a huge number of fans on this tour. I'll definitely be aiming to come back, the next time they play in London.
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