The last time Mumford and Sons were in town — in April 2016, on the same day Prince died(!) — they were in their so-called experimental phase, when the London foursome began slathering slick stadium rock vibes over the earnest Appalachian folk that made them famous.
In the nearly decade that has passed, they released another rock album, took an extended break and lost banjo player Winston Marshall, who left the group due to his increasingly far-right politics. In March, they released their back-to-basics fifth album “Rushmere” and, Thursday night, headlined Grand Casino Arena, the downtown St. Paul hockey rink formerly known as Xcel Energy Center.
The time away clearly didn’t cost them any listeners, as more than 14,500 showed up to see the guys live. But “Rushmere” failed to generate much buzz from fans or critics. So it wasn’t too surprising to see the new stuff they played receive a polite response, while the crowd went nuts for the old hits, singing along to “Little Lion Man” and dutifully clapping during “Lover of the Light.”
That said, it was a brand-new number that spoke to where Mumford and Sons stand in 2025. They opened the show with “Run Together” a song so fresh, it made its world debut Wednesday night in Chicago. And it’s a real barn burner, at least in the Mumford and Sons sense, with an anthemic chorus and a hook so immediate and indelible, it seems inevitable that they ripped it off from another song, consciously or not.
Stomping, clapping numbers like “Run Together” are what attract folks to the Mumfords and they rolled them out one after the other Thursday. The three remaining members stood up front, while a small army of touring musicians crowded near the back, adding more guitars and more keyboards along with drums, trombone, trumpet and a few other random instruments.
The trio did take a mid-set break for some scaled-back acoustic numbers on a small stage at the back of the arena floor. Joined by touring banjo player Matt Menefee, they dialed back the energy and got intimate with “Ghosts That We Knew,” “Caroline” and “Feel the Tide,” a song they haven’t played live in 15 years. (They were still up-and-comers in the States at that time and headlined the Varsity Theater in Dinkytown on that tour.)
While he doesn’t have a particularly distinct voice, band leader Marcus Mumford does know how to work a crowd, whether it was hopping onto the drums or sprinting directly through the general admission crowd after the acoustic set. He’s got a certain charm to him as well, which probably helps forgive some of his weaker material.
Whatever the case, “Run Together” sure sounds like a smash hit in waiting that will stand with any of the big ones from the good old days. Expect it to be inescapable in the near future and used in a prescription drug ad at whatever point the royalty checks start petering out for the Mumfords.
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