#music Mumford & Sons Had a Little Help from Their Friends at Glastonbury

Although I do love Mumford & Sons (I have since way back when) I was sceptical that they were chosen as headliners for Glastonbury, not because they aren't good enough, I just thought it was a little too early in their six year career having only had two records to their name as touring has taken forefront. Those two albums are brilliant and the folk-inspired band have taken on the world on the back of them but I just expected them to maybe be on just before the headliners this time round, even the band admitted that accepting the headlining slot was a gamble. It turns out they were more than ready for this and for the band who've played the festival five times since forming six years back (I saw them as Laura Marling's backing band in '08 too) they are a true Glastonbury band.

Just a few weeks ago they were hit with disaster as bassist Ted was rushed to hospital with a blood clot and needed an operation, although the four piece said cancelling the appearance never crossed their minds they must have been secretly shitting themselves. No blood clot hindered Ted, or the band as they stormed it with smiles on their faces and thousands of festival goers bounced and sung their hearts out.
The Pyramid Stage Sunday night headliners tend to be a heritage act, whether that is Paul McCartney or  Leonard Cohen so a band with just a couple of albums was somewhat surprising and following an electrifying headline set by Arctic Monkeys on Friday and The Rolling Stones (who I thought looked pretty dire, on tv anyway) on Saturday the pressure was on for the most humble band around.

I've seen Mumford & Sons grow over the years, EP to LP, tiny venues to arenas, I felt proud seeing them on this iconic slot. They were one of the reasons I started Abolish Confusion, I needed somewhere to air my love for this band as my friends on Facebook were quite frankly getting sick of every other status update being Mumford related.
So, how does a band who've performed with Bob Dylan, in front of Barrack Obama and sold more records than Justin Bieber go about closing Glastonbury? The same way they always do, with heart, passion and energy, dishing out banjo fueled pop that ticks the perfect festival performance boxes, sing-a-long anthems, upbeat tunes and a few slow numbers. It really was quite something and along with fellow twenty-somethings (Arctic Monkeys) they put the oldies (The Rolling Stones) to shame.

The four-piece bolstered their sound with brass, string sections and a full time drummer making the likes of Little Lion Man, I Will Wait and The Cave explode with sound but it was the final number which stole the show and closed the festival with party vibes as they got some mates involved. Vampire Weekend, First Aid Kit, The Vaccines and The Staves joined Marcus Mumford and his bandmates for a rendition of Joe Cocker's version of The Beatles' With A Little Help From My Friends,it was a joyous occasion  smiles beamed from ear to ear from all involved and it was a great way to end a festival that is aging far better than some of its acts.