It was exciting to head to Sydney during the week and see one of my favourite bands, Mumford and Sons, play at Qudos Bank Arena. I was lucky enough to see them in 2025 in Montreal, Canada, for the Rushmere Tour and back in 2019 in Melbourne.
The show in Montreal was outstanding - so I knew the Prizefighter show would not disappoint, and the early reviews were rave. The tour has started in Australia and is now headed to New Zealand, so it’s exciting to be part of the first audiences to see this show.
(Unfortunately I did not get to see the opening acts but all reports were that they were fantastic).
Marcus Mumford, Ted Dwane and Ben Lovett are clearly great mates, and the lighting and set (seen above) was relatively simple yet effective. At different times the various Mumford and Sons logos were alight, others they were cycled through. There was also large string light style lights that protruded from the stage over the audience - so the overall feel was more intimate than an arena show with 20,000 people. Mumford and Sons have a great rock/pop/country/bluegrass feel - there is something for everyone in their catalogue, and the place did not take long to fire up. There was little let up - fans (myself included) staying their feet, singing along and doing their best impressions of mosh-pit-come-barn-dance movement.
The Setlist
Here
Babel
I Will Wait
White Blank Page
Rushmore
Lover of the Light
Badlands
Prizefighter
Believe
Truth
Stay
Ditmas
The Cave
The Wolf
Icarus
Awake My Soul
Roll Away Your Stone
B-stage
Timshel
Rubber Band Man
I’ll Tell You Everything
Ghosts That We Knew
Encore
Delta
The Banjo Song
Little Lion Man
Conversations With My Son
Since the 2025 release of Rushmere and this year’s Prizefighter, I’ve seen some reviewers state that they don’t think that these Mumford and Sons albums have the same unique character they did in their early, much loved outings.
I could not disagree more.
A touch different? Yes.
Lacking the x-factor that brought us into our view? Certainly not.
More importantly, having now seen many tracks from both albums played live, it occurs to me that relistening, post-show, will improve the listening experience of these albums (particularly Rushmore) because you know that which songs pack more punch with the bigger band and live audience vibe. That has certainly been the case for me, and I liked both albums from the first listen.
However, there is not much that beats Mumford and Sons live. I have seen many concerts/gigs over the years, and they are pound for pound as good live as anyone I’ve seen. If rock’n’roll is your jam, you haven’t lived ‘til you’ve seen these guys play The Wolf live and loud. If you haven’t experienced Babel live, you haven’t wanted to break out your facepaints and charge over the hill in the name of all that’s true (think Braveheart - you’ll get the picture).
And if you haven’t listened to 20,000 people sing at the tops of their voices the lyrics ‘I really fucked it up, this time, didn’t I my dear?‘ from Little Lion Man, have you really yelled your feelings out?
Mumford and Sons - I’d see them any place, any time. If you haven’t done so yet, get on it. This is a band everyone should get to experience at least once.