Mumford & Sons – Live, The Captain’s Rest Glasgow, Tuesday 8th July 2008
When I lived in Glasgow, back between 1994 and 1999, the Captain’s Rest was a shitty-looking Rangers pub with the sort of forbidding exterior and clientele that meant I never stepped inside once in the four years I lived virtually next door to the place. It’s all been spruced up now, although the exterior still isn’t exactly what I’d call welcoming, and is in the process of reinventing itself as a rather snappy little venue with a consistent knack for good underground lineups.
Going to a gig in what is basically the basement of a pub the first thing that struck me was the price: £7.50 are you fucking joking? For a small band with barely a single four-song release to their name? Well it turns out it was something of a bargain.
We missed a good deal of Davie Fiddle, the openers, because we were upstairs guzzling beer, but the three or four songs that we did hear were excellent. It’s quite a staple of the indie scene at the moment: four posh boys playing folky music with an old-time English fiddle sound, but these guys were excellent. Listening to their MySpace page, the charm of the music doesn’t seem to quite come across in the recorded version, but believe me that they are worth seeing live. Dylan and I thought Phil was playing a viola at first, the sound of it was so deep, but apparently it’s just a normal fiddle. Did they say there was a string missing, to make that distinctive sound? They may have, but I was drunk and I don’t remember that clearly.
Davie Fiddle – Chasing Reason
Next came a brief interlude from Derek Meins, ostensibly there simply as a compere, he stood up with the Mumford lads as his backing band and played a brief but brilliant set of country, folky, bluesy, gospelly crazy music. His contorted, evangelical delivery was superb, and I can hardly believe I’ve not heard anything about this guy before. His album, for sale at the gig, has been licensed to Sony BMG thought, so clearly someone has. Again, I find myself not loving the album as much as the live show just yet, but give me time. And if you get the chance to see this lad, defintely, definitely do it.
Derek Meins – The Gin Song (Yes, the Gin Song – I should make this the official Song, by Toad anthem!)
And finally, on to the main attraction. I’d pretty much have been happy with the value for my £7.50 already at this point, but to add cherries to the top of the sundae, Marcus Mumford and his Minions were absolutely superb as well. The performance itself was tight as hell – absolutely perfectly executed, and with easily enough Big Pop grandeur mixed into the indie-folk to suggest that these guys really do have the capacity to become very, very big indeed. I make no claim to knowing how these sorts of chains of events are set off of course, nor how much luck is involved, but I am getting to the stage now where I am confident enough to say so when I think I hear the potential for a band to make an impact outside the confines of the narrow little genre in which I tend to interest myself. The music is euphoric, emotive, arresting and all the other good things you would imagine and if they can keep this up there should be plenty of excitement on the horizon. Their new (and fucking brilliant) EP is only to be found at rawrip.com at the moment, but vinyl copies should be available soon.
Mumford & Sons – White Blank Page
ok, there’s some love in here somewhere. happier now.
dan
Grr, rawr, I hate EVERYONE dammit. Or something.
Glad you’re happier now Dan.
They were brilliant. That lead singer’s voice is a breathtaking instrument – and the close harmonies provided by the rest of the band were spot on.
They were even gracious in accepting my drunken, gushing, fawning fan-boy compliments outside the venue on the way out.
Top notch stuff!
Yeah, I think I failed badly in that department too.
shivers down the spine and fingers outstretched with tingles of joy. It was just beautiful.
even if i did have a wee chode kicking my bottom.
The gin song is truly excellent, although this I found bizarre – I just went to itunes to purchase it, and in the section where it had “listeners also bought” the only song listed was Leona Lewis’s Bleeding Love??????? I cannot imagine the sort of person who would buy both of these things……
Leona Lewis? Surely someone’s kid has been using their iTunes.
No chodes, Ruth. Please, no chodes.
I saw Mumford & Sons supporting Laura Marling on her church tour (they’d only been asked to play about 3 hours before so they hadn’t been announced) and they absolutely blew me away. I’ve gotten completely obsessed with them, can’t wait to see them again.
Conversation starter of the week:
What is worse, a big chode or a little chode?
Hang on, am I the wee chode Ruth’s referring to?
You’d think I’d be used to people sitting at my feet!
And anyway, what’s a chode?
Aye, rub it in eh. Really wish I could have made this one.
Looking forward to a full album, which seems pretty inevitable now, as I know a few labels have been tracking them for a while and they’d be mongo’s to not try to sign them up.
Marcus Mumford and his Minions?!
What are you talking about? I saw Marcus play solo about 18 months ago in Edinburgh and it wasn’t a touch on Mumford and sons. The reason they’re so good is because they are a band with all 4 voices and multiple instruments. I agree that they were amazing on Tuesday bur I think you’ve missed the point.
Damion, that phrase was slightly tongue in cheek.
No, Damion’s right. I think the ‘minion’ remark is in keeping with the overall derogatory and downright insulting tone of your review as a whole.
I’m frankly disgusted.
Chode.
I think I agree with Damion. Marcus is amazing, there’s no doubt about that, but I agree that when you go to a Mumford and Sons gig you’re not watching one fellow with a backing band. Its 4 equally tasty talents. For me, I spend the majority of the gig, like at the captain’s rest, watching the double bassist, ted, pluck away and harmonize. Everyone I know has their fave member
Great site btw, whoever runs this. Far better than most other blogs I’m on. Anyone coming to see Operator Please @ king tuts next wk?
xx
No chodes, Matthew. Please, no chodes!
Who does run this, anyway?!
Oh… A chode..
I had to Google that.
Those last two comments of mine weren’t supposed to be read together.
Thanks Maggie. No Operator Please for me I don’t think, though. I only come through to Glasgow once every couple of months for gig purposes.
I have no idea where this impression came from that I didn’t think they were a good band, as opposed to a good front man and some random blokes. Apart from messing about with the name, which was for a laugh and had no more meaning than that, I never said anything like it. I thought they were excellent – as group, individually and in every other sense.
[...] to the magnificient Mumford & Sons, who have been received favourably here at Toad HQ both live and on [...]
I saw Marcus recently support Laura Marling at the Corner Hotel in Melbourne. Oh My God his voice just gave me tingles. I became an instant fan
[...] my last review of Mumford & Sons I said that they had that something about them that says pretty loud and [...]
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