Mumford and Sons @ Oslo Spektrum

British folk-rockers Mumford and Sons played a sold out show at Oslo Spektrum Sunday the 19th of May.

Mumford and Sons, who probably are most known for their famous song «I Will Wait For You», had a sold-out show on last Sunday at Oslo Spektrum. This was one of the last legs of their Delta album tour, the album which can be seen as the completion of the transformation from being a traditional folk rock sound into a more experimental sound.

Audience on their feet

They start with the upbeat song from the Delta album, «Guiding Light», before jumping into a older and faster hit «Little Lion Man» to keep the audience on their feet and cheered up for dancing. They continue with the Sigh No More album, slowing down with «The Cave» before returning to the most recent songs.

Marcus Mumford is very agile on stage and connects with the audience by trying out his Norwegian skills in between songs.  He also mentions how much he loves Oslo (though I always wonder if they say it to every city they play in or is it really a special bonding) as well as commenting the sunny days of spring and the hipster bearded men of Norway.

Confusingly blended

The band has a round stage that sits in the middle of the concert hall, getting a 360 degree view of the fans. Although this sounds like a great idea, the execution isn’t the best in my opinion. This is mainly because the stage is actually used as rectangular box, which means that Marcus Mumford has to change position and microphones in between songs so that the audience can actually see his face while singing instead of his back.

The setlist of the show was a mixture of ‘old’ and ‘new’ sound, showing what the band’s sound has been through over the past years. Though this is usually a good idea, in this show it ends up with a confusingly blended sound of fast and slow paced songs, reverb-y drums and heavy keyboards. The show felt like it had 2 parts.

After playing just 12 songs the band disappears from the stage, but they luckily come back to play 7 more songs for the encore. The encore part actually feels more wholesome than the rest of the show, where Marcus’ vibrant voice and the guitar sound – the signature sound of the band – is what saves the day in the end.

Mumford and Sons @ Oslo Spektrum 19.05.2019: 6/10