Review: Mumford & Sons deliver at The House of Blues

Two things you need to know about me: the first is that rarely will I find a band whose album I can listen to all the way through. The second thing I'll get to in a moment. When I discovered Mumford & Sons through a friend in April, I fell in love. Not only did I fall in love with them, but I also fell in love with the entire folk/bluegrass genre. Now the second thing you need to know is that I have never been to a live concert before. So when I discovered in August that M&S would be playing at the House of Blues in Dallas on Nov. 4, I jumped on the tickets.

Considering that the show had been sold out for a month or more, it wasn't surprising that the House of Blues was packed to the brim with plaid-clad folk enthusiasts.

Me being new to the concert scene, I was a little disappointed to find out that I would have to sit through another band called Cadillac Sky, because I really just wanted to see my boys and be done with it. So you can imagine how I felt when I arrived to found out that M&S would actually be having a second opener before Cadillac Sky by the name of King Charles. I just knew I was going to be completely miserable and bored until Mumford & Sons came on.

Boy, was I wrong.

Being of the same genre as M&S probably played in favor of the openers, because I thoroughly enjoyed Cadillac Sky and King Charles almost as much the main event. King Charles had some very catchy songs including a modernized version of Billy Joel's "We Didn't Start The Fire," which the crowd seemed to particularly enjoy.

Next came Cadillac Sky, a five-man folk band whom I enjoyed much more than I did King Charles. These guys were a lot more like M&S in that they sounded much more folksy than King Charles and they played a wider array of instruments as opposed to the King's limited guitar play. Bordering on the fringe of country, Cadillac Sky's songs clearly had a spiritual influence which gave me the impression that these guys put their hearts and souls into their craft. That kind of devotion is something that I greatly respect from a band. Guitarist for Cadillac, David Mayfield really got the crowd going with constant exclamations of "TEXAS!," as well as trying to get the audience involved in echoing lyrics during some of the songs. They put on a great set, ending on a final song in which the boys from Mumford & Sons came on to provide backup on drums and piano.

Around 11, it was time for the main event and you could just taste the anticipation in the air. Being the main attraction, it came as no surprise that M&S's set was by far the most visually stunning and fun. They went pretty much through their entire album, "Sigh No More," and even unveiled a new song titled "Below My Feet" from their upcoming album. It was nice of the boys to give the crowd a new song, but I'm pretty sure that everyone would have been satisfied if they had just played through "Sigh No More" from top to bottom. I say this because the songs that already exist are all wonderful and that, combined with the amount of light effects and M&S's showmanship, is enough to see any fan into a Mumford-ian Heaven. Something that I really enjoyed as far as visual appeal was that, much like in the music video for "Little Lion Man," there were lights strung from the upper seats to the stage and weren't turned on until they began to play that song.

Once they ended their set the boys walked off the stage to the sound of most of the audience chanting for "one more song." After a few minutes, the band reemerged on stage followed closely by King Charles and some of the members of Cadillac Sky to sing a song written by King Charles entitled "Lady Of The Water." After that was done, instead of bowing to a round of applause and swiftly exiting the stage, they stayed on to play "The Cave."

All three bands played a great show to a full house and not only did I have a blast seeing one of my favorite bands in concert but I also got hooked to two new artists.