Mumford & Sons at BST Hyde Park

This time ten years ago, Mumford & Sons graced the BST stage. Fast forward a decade, and they return to the Hyde Park festival to a cheering crowd as excited as the band are to be performing this huge homecoming show. Ben Lovett even admits they built their entire world tour around this 4^th July gig.

The setlist is a splendid journey through the group’s catalogue, opening with their latest album, Prizefighter, via the single Begin Again: a new release, a fresh chapter, and here they are once more with their characteristically warm indie folk rock. Crowd favourite I Will Wait comes next, bursting with energy from every corner, while the big screens capture the infectious enthusiasm of the trumpeters in the background. With White Blank Page, the slow opening gives way to an intense rhythmic syncopation and backbeat that have become one of the group’s hypnotic signatures.

Truth (from the trio’s latest album, Rushmere) has a distinctly rock edge, as the backdrop quite literally goes up in flames in keeping with the song’s lyrics, while the lighting washes the stage in red. Throughout Ditmas, frontman Marcus Mumford throws himself into the crowd: it’s a track that belongs in the middle of the fans.

As the sun goes down, the live cameras adopt dramatic framing, with some epic imagery of the protagonists. Delta is introduced with a touch of romanticism, having been written around London Bridge, making it feel intrinsically tied to the city.

Mumford & Sons’ ballads are at their best in more intimate settings, where the banjos, double bass and the audience’s swelling choruses wrap everyone present in a comforting blanket of sound. However, if the show occasionally lacked atmosphere in the vast, sprawling festival setting, it more than made up for it with a succession of guest performers. First up is Stella Lefty for Badlands. Following the collaboration with the trio on their latest album, Hozier then joins them for Rubber Band Man and a stirring rendition of Awake My Soul. The encore brings one final surprise guest: straight from Wembley Stadium, where she had just played the final night of Harry Styles’ residency, Shania Twain rushed across London for a duet with Marcus on Here. It could hardly have been any other song, given that it’s the band’s most country-influenced track, co-written with Chris Stapleton. Its acoustic soul and bluegrass accents call for a joyous clap-along. Marcus is clearly having the time of his life, bouncing across the stage and accompanying his idol Twain on a half-moon tambourine as she launches with gusto into Man! I Feel Like a Woman!

The Cave, accompanied by fireworks that feel rather modest by BST standards, brings the concert to a close. It’s a celebration of fine weather, good vibes and timeless music.