Review – Marcus Mumford – The Bristol Gig Guide

The Marble Factory, Nov 22nd 2022

There is a palpable sense of excitement as soon as the doors open for Marcus Mumford’s sold-out show; an awareness that this is not your everyday Marble Factory gig.

Mumford’s “day job”, as he describes it this evening, is of course being the frontman of internationally successful festival headliners, Mumford & Sons.

“Awake My Soul” and “The Cave” – open tonight’s show, played solo acoustic without the harmonies and banjos that we have become accustomed to. The crowd responds with a respectful, hushed singalong, which does not overpower Marcus’ stripped back performance.

The singer is in a playful mood telling us that it’s “nice to play these old songs” in a different way. He is not just here to play those older songs, however. In September, Marcus released his first solo album “(self-titled)” but he tells us that it’s actually the most collaborative project he’s ever worked on as he invites his band onto the stage. He then bravely plays the entire record in order from start to finish. It’s a decision that really works as the crowd gets to experience the album in the way it is intended. It’s book-ended with lead single “Cannibal” (which has a music video directed by Steven Spielberg) and Brandi-Carlile collaboration “How”; the intensity of these songs is increased further in a live setting as Mumford uses live music to purge past trauma. The lyrics are repeated in both songs (“I’ll forgive you now / as if saying the words will help me know how”) and the audience members who are already aware of the story behind these songs will recognise that we have been given a painfully intimate performance of immensely personal music.

Mumford delivers a tight knit, polished live show – the sort you would expect from an artist used to playing the biggest shows in the world – and the band sound like they have been playing together for years. The crowd remain attentive throughout and Marcus interacts regularly with many of the more vocal audience members.

In the encore, one of those audience members dares to shout out some criticism of Taylor Swift before Marcus plays their collaboration “cowboy like me” from Swift’s “Evermore” LP. He quickly responds by highlighting Taylor’s recent incredible achievements.

Marcus laughs that we are all “in on the joke” when it comes to encores and says that you would “have to be a proper dickhead” to just leave without doing one. We are glad that he does as the band appear looser and more free in the encore as they blast through a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Not Dark Yet” and tracks from Mumford’s Dylan-based supergroup sideproject, The New Basement Tapes.

The show finishes with an unplugged solo rendition of his day job band’s mega hit, “I Will Wait” which is a crowd-pleasing bonus to a show which has already given the packed crowd everything they could have wanted from the evening.

Ryan Simmonds