Mumford & Sons LAST USA Concert

**I just looked it up and Marcus Mumford, the main guy, was born on January 31, 1987. He is only my age!!! He is only 23!!! I thought he was older. Crazy.

Last night I saw Mumford and Sons perform their last show on their USA tour at Terminal 5 in NYC. It was AWESOME.

The night began when I met my college friend, Maryellen for dinner where I got a cheeseburger and fries and a pickle. The cheeseburger was $17.95. I was absolutely in shock when I saw the check. Like a fox getting trapped in a hidden cage in the forest that grabs its leg, we were like tourists being trapped in a tourist trap where prices of food and merchandise are inflated. And we are not even tourists.

We walked to Terminal 5 [located on 11th ave around 51st Street]. Many shady men were asking if we had tickets to sell. Standing on the corner waiting for the light to change, I took out our concert tickets and told MaryEllen that we were probably going to get mugged. At that moment, a blonde haired woman rushed by us, bumping into MaryEllen. I was sure she was trying to pickpocket us. I made eye contact with her and realized it was our friend from college, Kayla. What a wonderful [and awkward because she tried to rob us] surprise! Kayla was also seeing the concert.

The security guardess [female version of guard] checked my bag as I went in. I was slightly embarrassed because I had my overnight clothes in the bag including a pair of underwear. “It’s not what it looks like”, I told her. I don’t really know what kind of joke I was making, but she didn’t smile anyway.

We saw part of the opener [Cadillac Sky] play and met another friend from school, Jenn. As we waited for Mumford to emerge, more people started to pile in and we were pushed further into the middle of the concert hall. My side strap bag [which weighed 12 pounds] was weighing me down and Kayla got really hot because she was wearing a wool sweater. She told me she made the sweater herself- she now makes by hand all the pieces of clothing she wears. Not only is she in graduate school and takes improv classes, but she spends hours upon hours each night making her own clothes. I asked her if she would make me a wool sweater and she said, “Yes, my next shipment of sheep wool is arriving FedEx next Tuesday”. I told her “No thank you, I only wear goat wool.”

Mumford and his Sons came out on stage and the crowd went wild, like undomesticated animals. They opened strongly with Sigh No More. I think they played every song from their “Sign No More” album along with two or three new songs. [including Lover of the Light] Like the first Ingrid Michaelson show I saw I liked their new stuff almost as much as I liked their old stuff. Hearing live music usually makes me emotional. It’s not like I break down every day when I’m commuting and hear a hobo playing the banjo, but if I hear beautiful music, with beautiful lyrics, I am known to tear up. Some lyrics that give me the chills are as follows:

“Love will not betray you, dismay or enslave you, it will set you free. More like the man you were made to be.” Sign No More

“And there will come a time, you’ll see, with no more tears.
And love will not break your heart, but dismiss your fears.” After the Storm

“We’ll be washed and buried one day my girl
And the time we were given will be left for the world
The flesh that lived and loved will be eaten by plague
So let the memories be good for those who stay” Winter Winds

“I close my eyes for a while
And force from the world a patient smile.” I Gave You All

In the end, I realized they hadn’t played one of my favorite songs, The Cave. I kept this in mind when they ended the concert and walked off stage. Of course, they came back onstage for an encore performance and had a great time when they brought out the openers including “King Charles” and “Cadillac Sky”. There were like 14 dudes on stage at once. The energy in the venue escalated to a 14 out of 12.

Just when I thought it was over, the openers went offstage and shaBAM Mumford & His Sons performed The Cave. It was an awesome, bone chilling experience.

Leaving the concert with Maryellen and Kayla, I learned for the first time what bottleneck is. It is when you are in a crowd of people leaving a place and it feels like a bottle where tons of people are trying to leave from a tiny small location. I said, “Kind of like rubbernecking?” just to get a laugh, even though it’s nothing like rubbernecking.

Here is another Mumford song called Liar that I have just listened to for the first time. It’s tragic yet beautiful. I also just found Mumford covering the Vampire Weekend song, Cousins.

I need to plan my next concert, considering I have none planned for the upcoming future. Bands I want to see in concert include: The Wombats, Vampire Weekend, She & Him, Jukebox the Ghost [again], The Temper Trap, The Black Keys, The Dodos, Noah and The Whale, Edward Sharpe The Magnetic Zeros, and Fanfarlo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, on that note, goodbye.

EXTRA PICS***