Music Gigs 'n' Festivals: Gentleman of the Road (Mumford & Sons) Review

So last weekend I was fortunate enough to travel over to Dublin, Ireland to see Mumford and Sons live at Phoenix Park.

The sun was out, the beers were in and to the credit of all the acts, the day was great! The days lineup consisted of Ham Sandwich, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetics, The Vaccines, Ben Howard, and of course the main act themselves Mumford and Sons.

First up were Ham Sandwich. I can honestly put my hands up and say before seeing them live I had never heard of them. Ham Sandwich is a five piece indie rock band from Ireland. Like with any relatively unheard band at these one day gigs, the crowd can be pretty unresponsive and tame. Although the band did have a couple of good songs, in particular their final song of the set "Ants," there was little more they could do to warm up the crowd!

Next up were Edward Sharpe and the Magnetics. If you know little about this band check out my previous post: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetics. I loved their set, and was seriously impressed by how much stage presence the lead singer Alexander Ebert had. For me, and arguably the rest of the crowds favourite part of the set was their final song "Home." Everyone by the end seemed in great spirits, singing and dancing along with this american folk band. I for one will certainly be keeping a close eye on their upcoming tour dates.

Now for some British players - cue The Vaccines. Again for more information about this band, check out my previous post regarding them: The Vaccines. I was excited to see this band live after recently hearing how good they were at Glastonbury. I was certainly not left disappointed. Their hugely energetic performance was a nice mix to the relatively chilled out line up that played before them. They played a strong set, and included many of their popular singles which seemed to be a hit with the crowd.

Now for my fav - Ben Howard. Having seen him live in London three weeks ago, and twice before that, I knew I was in for a great set. His half hour set included the popular tracks The Fear, Only Love, Keep Your Head Up, Blackflies, Old Pine and his new single I Forgot Where We Were. Although it was evident that Ben Howard was a huge hit with the crowd, I must say from previous performances, he is a lot stronger when playing at smaller venues.

And finally, the headliners of the evening, Mumford and Sons. Again having seen these four times previously I was confident this was going to be good. Opening with their new single Babel. the irish crowd all seemed to go wild. Others song featured in their set included "I Will Wait," "Holland Road," "The Cave," "Little Lion Man," "Ghosts That We Knew," and "Hopeless Wanderer." I thought their set was truly brilliant. Not a band to ever let a crowd down, these four boys soon has the jam packed crowd on their feet, singing, swaying, jumping, dancing and cheering along. Although I thoroughly enjoyed their entire set, for me one song particularly stood out to me. For their final song of the night they made the standard move of inviting all the previous acts back onto stage to sing a cover together. Although this was predictable the song they chose to perform was not so much. Galway Girl. As someone who loves Dublin and frequently goes over to see friends, this song was perfect (i cant quite say my irish friends were as impressed however...).

So overall I have to say I had a truly fabulous day. Although Ben Howard was slightly disappointing I would still without a doubt go and see him live again (for a 5th time) and seriously can't stress enough how good his new album is going to be. Mumford and Sons proved again to many why they have become such a hugely popular band all around the world. For me though I was most pleased to have seen Edward Sharpe and the Magnetics - Having never seen them live before and being such a big fan, I was truly stoked.