Music: Gentlemen of the Road

Mumford & Sons join the line-up for the Gentleman Of The Road Stopover in Lewes

Back in 2008 Mumford & Sons made their Glastonbury debut, playing to about 200 people. Fast forward to Glastonbury 2013, and they performed in front of up to 100,000 as Sunday night headliners, on perhaps the best known platform of them all, The Pyramid Stage. But they nearly didn’t make… Bassist (and former member of Brighton’s The Moulettes) Ted Dwane had recently undergone a major operation to remove a blood clot and it was touch and go whether or nor not he would recover in time. Thankfully he did; the band put on a magnificent performance, leading singer and frontman Marcus Mumford to proclaim to the crowd: “We truly feel you got us here.”

The band only formed in 2007, from the emerging West London indie-folk scene that included Noah & The Whale, Laura Marling (whom Mumford used to date and drum for) and Johnny Flynn. Mumford has downplayed that characterisation as an exaggeration: “Mumford & Sons and a few other folk acts just happened to be operating in the same general area at the time… It’s not folk really. Well, some of it is, and it’s certainly not a scene. Someone got over-excited about a few bands who live in a hundred-mile radius and put it in a box to sell it as a package. It’s a community, not a scene. It’s not exclusive.” Nevertheless they made an immediate impact with their debut album Sigh No More while the follow up, Babel, reached number one in both the UK and US. From thereon, the Grammys, Brits et al have been showered on them like confetti.

And now they are ready to take Lewes by storm, as part of their Gentlemen Of The Road series of one-off ‘stopovers’, an idea they borrowed from the Railroad Revival Tour they took part in 2011 with Old Crow Medicine Show (a band who have heavily influenced their bluegrass leanings). The idea is that the band select unique places, creating venues, and curating the line ups. Over the two days Lewes will host the likes of Vampire Weekend, Brighton’s British Sea Power, White Denim, The Vaccines, Johnny Flynn and The Mystery Jets, plus there will be a number of ‘fringe’ events taking place in the town, including pub gigs, comedy and theatre. The town’s outdoor lido will also be open with special extended opening hours.

Gentleman Of The Road: The Stopover, The Convent Field, Mountfield Road, Lewes, BN7 2XD, Friday 19–Saturday 20 July, www.gentlemenoftheroad.com, SOLD OUT. (Fringe events are separately ticketed.)