Last week I headed over to Music Hall of Williamsburg to catch what turned out to be a truly awesome show — British headliners Mumford & Sons and Aussie openers The Middle East.
The room was already packed when The Middle East took the stage. Comprised of seven band members, this band is capable of such a huge, lush sound that is grand and quite beautiful. Their recorded stuff really does not do their live show justice. I was blown away by how absolutely lovely the songs sounded and the term “next big thing” instantly popped into my head as they played one gorgeous song after another.
Punctuated with the sounds of horns, accordions, keyboards, guitars, and drums the tunes soared through the air — songs like “Blood” and “I could see how folks who love bands like Arcade Fire or Polyphonic Spree would have a lot to like in this band. Truly music that deserves a big open field and thousands of people swaying to and fro. Don’t be surprised if you’re looking back on this post in about two years and exclaiming, “Dagnabbit! She was right!”
Headliners Mumford and Sons were a bit late getting to the stage (taking some extra time to get an old timey haircut perhaps?), but proved to be well worth the wait. With solid, jamming tunes, and introspective lyrics, the quartet was impressive.
Some hilarious inter-song banter by singer Marcus Mumford feeling like a fat Englishman while spending the earlier part of the day roaming around the natural habitat of Williamsburg hipsters wearing skinny jeans and Ray Ban sunglasses.
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