Mumford & Sons, Fanfarlo &Matt Corby @ Enmore Theatre,Sydney (3/08/10)

Wed 4th Aug, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Australia has been good to Mumford & Sons, and they have returned that favour in spades. Having granted the band a #1 in Triple J’s Hottest 100 of 2009 for Little Lion Man, the band’s album Sigh No More also hit the top slot in the country and stayed there for quite some time. The band has returned with two festival slots this year, gracing our shores in early 2010 for the Laneway Festival and returning for the massive 2010 Splendour in the Grass line-up.

The Enmore Theatre was already filling up by the time the first support, Matt Corby, took the stage. Guiding us through his slumberland of dreamy tunes, the former Australian Idol finalist now looks a little bit like John Butler with a voice not too dissimilar from the angelic Jeff Buckley at times. One can only hope that the fate of this Sydney native is a little more positive than that of the late singer, as his series of increasingly foot-stomping tunes warmed the crowd up nicely.

Fanfarlo is a London-by-way-of-Sweden group that have been making a steady name for themselves since the release of their 2009 album, Reservoir, with their songs turning up everywhere from Portuguese independent films to the (admittedly…ahem…pretty good) Twilight Saga: Eclipse soundtrack. It is a rare thing that a band just makes you feel positive and upbeat, but the multi-instrumental enthusiasm of the five-piece was infectious. Reminiscent at times of an Arcade Fire set, Fanfarlo threatened to bring the ornate walls of the Enmore down with their good vibes.

Yet it was clear that no matter how good the support bands were, Mumford & Sons had a cult amassed at the Enmore on this cold August night. The band wasted no time in pleasing the crowd by opening with the title track off their debut record Sigh No More. In that one song, almost everything you need to know about the band is right there: beautiful harmonies, achingly melancholy lyrics and foot-stomping beats to rattle the fillings in your back teeth.

The generous set was filled with favourites from the record, with Little Lion Man surprisingly dropping midway through the piece to the joy of the vocal crowd. Indeed, there weren’t many tracks that didn’t prompt a sing-along from the audience, with even members of Boy & Bear and The Middle East dropping by to make some percussion at a particularly frenzied moment in the show.

It wasn’t all about the old, with Mumford & Sons treating audiences to a number of new songs, assuring the eager crowd that it wouldn’t be long before a second album emerged. One song was so new that it was written on the Melbourne leg of this tour, and as one punter put it “Oh yeah, it’s pretty good. I’d put it on the album”.

Despite the often raucous elements to the set, there is no doubting that Mumford & Sons are a tight band, and the new music emerging as they tour is a testament to the confidence the band are displaying in their own distinctive style. Jump on the bandwagon now before the venues grow too big for this intimate and always interesting band.