M&S Fan Experience: December 6th (aka-The Best Day of My Life)

Submitted by Camille:

I’m going to make an attempt to sum up the incredible time I had at the Mumford & Sons concert last night at the Rose Garden Arena in Portland, but really it can’t be put into words…

First off, I took an early train from Seattle to Portland for the show. Around 4:30, after a day of wandering around Portland, my good friend and I headed to the arena where we found a small line already forming. It was freezing outside, but for some of the time we could hear the lads inside doing sound check and knowing they were in the building I was about to go into made the cold not matter at all. Finally the doors opened and we rushed inside where we got a spot on the floor six rows back from the center of the stage. After much jostling I could see the entire stage perfectly. The opening bands were great, but nothing compared to Mumford & Sons. When they walked on stage the entire massive and packed arena exploded with excitement, but when they started playing Lover’s Eyes (a perfect opener) everyone went quiet. Hearing them in person is like nothing else. They just radiate joy and there was nothing I could do but grin along with Ben who was one big gorgeous smile. They continued with Roll Away Your Stone, Winter Winds, Below My Feet, White Blank Page, Timshel, Little Lion Man, Lover of the Light, Thistle and Weeds (with a wonderfully eerie intro by Ross and Ben), Ghosts That We Knew, Awake My Soul, Broken Crown, After the Storm, Dustbowl Dance (with a stunning intro by Ben) and an encore of Sigh No More and The Cave. Every song was perfection. The amount of soul they pour into each note truly is breathtaking and made me want to cry and skip at the same time. Seeing them perform live, it’s obvious that they absolutely love it. Ben told the crowd that it was the biggest show they’d ever done in the US and Marcus thanked the venue for making it look smaller than it actually was. All four of them seemed a little shocked at how many people were there (apparently they don’t realize how incredible they are). Winston chatted about the places they had been that day, followed by Marcus saying they had actually woken up very close to show time. Ben danced around the stage whenever he wasn’t playing and threw his shaker/maraca into the air behind him, then made a squinty face as he realized what he had just done and that he didn’t know where it would land. Ben and Winston had a competition to see who could crouch lower while still playing Awake My Soul then tried to head bang more than the other during Broken Crown which made Ben smile all the more. Ted walked across stage carrying his bass and still playing Dustbowl Dance while Marcus drummed so hard he hit his mic off the stand. Marcus gave a long winded thank you to everyone who came that started with him saying “It’s funny sometimes being in a band because we never really planned to be in a band….How the fuck did we get here?” Ben said they were playing four shows in the US then heading home to work on the new album and that they’ll be back next year, which seems way too far away from now. Unlike a lot of bands they don’t try to put on a show. They play their music and have an authentically good time, and so does everyone else. It was an hour and a half of pure joy as they shared their souls with an arena packed with people.

Thank you so very much for sharing, Camille. How incredibly lucky and blessed you were to be at this concert, and I sincerely hope you have the opportunity to see our boys again, soon! -M&SB