Gentlemen of the Road
The band Mumford and Sons is a doing a series of
Gentlemen of the Road stopovers in four U.S. cities. The idea of these stopovers is that they're more extended, intimate (though extremely crowded) events--not just a concert, it's a daylong festival, followed up by a series of after-parties around the town after the show. Yesterday was their first American stopover,
in Portland.
The concert is just one of four "Gentlemen of the Road Stopover" festivals that Mumford & Sons has planned for this summer (in addition to a regular tour). This has drawn national attention to Portland -- not only is the event expected to bring in fans from all over the country, band members have praised the city's art scene and historic, creative vibe in explaining why they picked it as a venue.
"It's got the ocean, a lively music scene, and it's an old town. We're very interested in history," said Mumford multi-instrumentalist and vocalist Winston Marshall, 24, in a phone interview. "It's exactly the vibe and character we were looking for in picking these sites."
Marshall will get to see more of Portland than just the Eastern Promenade -- after the show, he's scheduled to be at one of the five after-parties, at The Big Easy in Portland's Old Port.
But it's their philosophy that I dig:
The band's other "Stopover" festival events this summer are all in relatively small places: Bristol, Va.; Dixon, Ill.; and Monterey, Calif. Portland is the first city on the U.S. leg of the tour. (The festival debuted in June with one show each in the U.K. and Ireland.)
Marshall said the idea of the "Stopovers" was to have a daylong festival that celebrates an entire community.
"We want to be learning about the towns we're in, going into the bars and pubs," said Marshall. "We're not particularly well-informed or well-educated, so this is good for us."
I love the idea of the tour. Instead of the band having to run to the airport after the show, they hang out in the community following the festival (indeed, they were apparently already in town hanging out on Friday night during the
First Friday Art Walk). But it was the venue that really sealed the deal. The festival was set up in a spot that I don't believe has been used for that purpose before, though it is the spot where the annual Fourth of July fireworks are held. The main part of Portland is a peninsula, jutting out into the Atlantic (Casco Bay). The festival was held in the public park that makes up the very eastern edge of that peninsula. You can see it marked on the handy map to the right that the band
provided on their website.
More than that, most of it was on a hill, with the main stage set up down at the bottom (and the second stage set up a little to the right). So as you're sitting out in the bright sunshine of a beautiful August day, what you're seeing is the band and behind them the blue waters and green islands of Casco Bay, dotted with boats going to and fro. I don't have a wide-angle lens on my iPhone but I think this captures a bit of what it looked like:
I think I've only been to concerts in indoor/theater venues before so I was blown away by this. Factor in amazing sound quality and an amazing performance (they ended with a fireworks performance after 9pm) from all involved and I'd be hardpressed to say that wasn't the best concert--ahem,
festival--I've ever been to.
This post was a bit bloggy-er than what we usually do here but I was really impressed with Mumford and Son's approach to this tour and I wanted to share their philosophy (and the amazingness of the location).
There are no words that describe my jealousy.
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