Marc Broussard brought two openers along with him — Chic Gamine and Scars on 45. I have to say Chic Gamine was an empty addition to the evening for me. None of their songs really connected, and they were a tad forgettable. They did double as doo wop singers, ably backing Broussard throughout his set so perhaps they were there to serve more of a utility function. Scars on 45 was quite the opposite. Local Atlanta modern rock station DaveFM has been giving their first single “Give Me Something” considerable airtime over recent months so the band wasn’t a foreign entity coming in. They brought their British charm and solid songs, playing an intriguing set. Their song catalog still looks pretty brief, but they did the most with what they had to work with. They hold a lot of promise and worth checking out further once their full album is ready for release.

Now for our star of the evening: Marc Broussard. Broussard has been around since early 2000 steadily making a name for himself with his deep soulful voice and unique whiteboy groove. The first time I was introduced to Marc Broussard was an opening slot where he was sharing time with Dave Barnes at Eddie’s Attic, warming up the crowd for Jay Clifford of the now defunct Jump Little Children. Barnes and Broussard played a bruising set and marked one of the few shows I’ve ever been to where the opener flat outplayed the headliner. Smartly, Broussard has found himself at the head of the bill at every show I’ve seen him play since.

Marc Broussard is touring on his most recent release “Keep Coming Back” that hit record shelves June 14. He’s proud of it too as he carved out a healthy chunk of new tracks to mix into the setlist. Catchy songs like “Only Everything” and “Emily” show he can still write radio friendly hooks while he leans on beauties like “Yes Man” and “Let It All Out” to let his voice take center stage to strike that inner cord with the listener.

Although he gave a proper introduction to the new work, he nicely sampled across his music catalog. He did give “Carenco” a bit of special treatment, but the album arguably holds a good number of Broussard’s most well known and best tracks. He got the crowd revved up with “Rocksteady,” brought out the lady killer “The Beauty of Who You Are,” brought down the house Ray Charles-style with “Lonely Night in Georgia” and closed out the evening reaching into the well for “Home.” As much as I love his later works, he could have played “Carenco” cover-to-cover, and I would have left a happy man.

The audience was locked in on Broussard. He would pull these notes from his gut that just soared, yet would also know how to dial it back to peel away the layers of a song to grab its emotional core. He is an extremely gifted artist whose voice has soul beyond its years. As good as his albums are, they simply don’t do justice to his live act. The emotion, the vocal range and the passion just shine onstage.

The night at the Georgia Theatre marked the last night of the summer tour for Broussard and company. They seemed to have decided to leave it all on the stage. From my vantage point, Broussard found a way to connect with the college kids who may have just discovered him as well as the 30-somethings who knew exactly what was in store when Broussard takes the stage. At least we thought we did. How can you foresee a show where all three bands converge on to the stage for an impromptu belting out of “Eye of the Tiger?” Really what more can you say after that.

Whether or not the props made sense, it surely didn’t matter because this was the band that so many fans at Atlanta’s Midtown Music Festival wanted to see. Coldplay, who? Now, I might be a little biased, but The Black Keys are so bad ass that even Coldplay’s Chris Martin was compelled to give a shout-out to them during their headlining set.

Lead Singer/Guitarist, Dan Auerbach, and drummer/producer Patrick Carney opened with “Girl Is On My Mind,” “The Breaks” and “Everlasting Light,” three crowd pleasers that worked to build up momentum for a blistering performance of “Next Girl.” Let me tell you, I’ve always cranked up the volume on this one, but to feel the bitterness and the resentment behind the lyrics with fellow fans is an experience within itself:

I wanted love
But not for myself
But for the girl
So she could love herself.
My next girl
Will be nothing like my… ex girl

Damn.

The darker the skies and the brighter the stage became, the more the ground beneath our feet shook. No two guys can fill an outdoor music festival with their sound like these guys. There’s so much swagger behind the Black Keys’ edgy sound that the raw grit and dirt stick to all those within range. Patrick’s pounding drums and Dan’s fearless guitar work are able hypnotize a crowd already in a rock trance.

With flashes of a cocky smile, as if he knew he was rocking our socks off, Dan was eager to “keep it moving right along because [he] liked where this was heading.” The boys rounded out the set with “Ten Cent Pistol,” “I’ll be your man” and the popular “Your Touch.”

I would have loved to have heard “The Lengths” and “You’re The One” but why risk mellowing the energy of such an amped crowd? The boys ended too soon with the thunderous “I Got Mine,” and speaking for all those present at Atlanta’s Music Midtown Festival, we definitely got ours.

Of the ten bands that were on the bill Saturday, one of the more interesting additions was a group hailing out of Irvine, California called Young the Giant. A relatively new creation in their current form, they released the group’s eponymous debut album in October and haven’t looked back since. They’ve released three singles, toured with indie royality like Minus the Bear and Neon Trees as well as been a mainstay on the festival circuit with South by Southwest, Lollapalooza and now Music Midtown appearances. Opening for Incubus on their latest tour isn’t too shabby either. They are an alternative rock group running along a fast trajectory towards stardom.

The band is comprised of five members fronted by Sameer Gadhia. His Indian heritage certainly wasn’t lost on select members of the crowd. A group of anxious Indian teenagers lining the front row asked if I was going to be standing in front of them for the whole show. “Nope just here to take pictures for the first three songs — no worries, I’ll be moving around during that time,” I replied. The collective exhale was noticeable. This was the group, specifically Gadhia, they had come to see. Every other band was little more than window dressing to these girls.

Young the Giant had a 45-minute set so they kicked right into their album’s opening track ‘Apartment.’ Released as their second single, it definitely is one of the standout songs from the album with an intriguing subtle hook that unknowingly pulls you in. That effect gets amplified live. Sameer Gadhia is the band’s undeniable focal point as he belts his vocal fervor through numbers like the rock anthem ‘My Body.’ You almost were a bit worried that he’d pop a vein with his steadfast intensity. He was firmly affixed in the moment, and it was a cool thing to witness.

Given their catalog consists of just the solo album (not counting their EP with the Jakes here), it got heavy rotation in Young the Giant’s setlist though they did introduce us to a few new tracks they’ve been toying with. Though it takes more than a single listen to assess the merits of a song, the initial listen was promising. Hopefully, they are able to build on the burgeoning success from their debut as they continue to raise their stature in the rock community.

Young the Giant played a very solid set and of the bands supporting the headliners (Coldplay and the Black Keys), they were one of the most memorable of the afternoon. Gadhia has a transfixing intensity that draws the crowd in, and its hard to look away. I look forward to hearing more of this crew in the days ahead.

Coldplay released the single “Every Teardrop is a Waterfall” back in January as a small taste to show the promise of the upcoming curiously titled album ‘Mylo Xyoto’ that hits shelves October 24. While a full tour to support the album is still materializing for locals outside of the Europe, Coldplay decided to hit the festival circuit this summer to test drive the new material and see if fans embraced the new songs as tightly as their well-worn favorites from the past.

Last night saw them take the headlining spot at Atlanta’s welcomed revival of the Music Midtown festival, and what a sight it was. 55,000 hungry fans packed the lawn at Piedmont Park after a day stuffed with high caliber acts like Young the Giant, the Black Keys, Cage the Elephant and Manchester Orchestra. While the warm-up acts certainly outdid themselves, you could tell Coldplay was the act everyone was here to see.

The band took the stage at 9:15 as the energy bottled up from the screaming fans was like a Mentos in a Diet Coke bottle. It has been far too long since their last visit to the ATL. Chris Martin and company wasted no time launching into their set giving the crowd another glimpse at the forthcoming ‘Mylo Xyoto’ with the song “Hurts Like Heaven.” It was a solid track that helped the band serve up a handful of teasers tracks from the new album during their 80-minute set. I’m going to go out on a limb here to say I think they’ll sell a few copies of this one.

The night’s setlist was a scattershot of tracks from the band’s growing catalog of work. Staples like “Yellow,” “The Scientist” and “Clocks” were unquestionable crowd pleasers while they didn’t neglect to throw in a few deeper cuts like “Everything is Not Lost” and “Politik” for the dyed in the wool fans. They did their best to spread the wealth though it would have been nice to get a fuller look at the new album. If nothing else, it gives us all a chance to visit them at Philips Arena when they surely pass through in 2012.

Coldplay’s stage show certainly didn’t disappoint. Chris Martin alternated between bouncing around the stage, cozying up to the piano and sharing a few laughs with guitarist Jonny Buckland. The light show showered the tightly packed crowd as huge inflatable balls kicked through the wave of hands. They even capped the evening with bursts of fireworks just to make sure the right notes got their proper emphasis.

Chris Martin commented on how much he loved being back in Atlanta and seemed to back it up in earnest with a stirring tribute of “Everybody Hurts” for the recently split Athens-based R.E.M. Martin also used Ray Charles’ beautiful “Georgia on My Mind” as a fitting transition between songs as the night wrapped to a close.

I’ve seen Coldplay more than a half dozen times at this point from the Verizon Center in Washington D.C. to a community college gymnasium in Charlotte, but this is the first time I’ve seen them outdoors in the festival element. They seemed to reveal in it, giving them perhaps a freedom that arena shows don’t necessarily afford. Coldplay played a great set that whetted the appetite for their upcoming album while still reminding us why we all fell in love with the band all those years ago. Chris Martin and the boys still got ‘it,’ and it was nice to see them bring their deep passion for music back to Atlanta

Look for our continued coverage of Music Midtown tomorrow as we feature takes on Young the Giant and the Black Keys performances.

If you made it out to Atlanta’s Midtown Music Festival and you were in the audience for this local band’s set, you might have noticed the British Flag and the Queen’s portrait swaying in the warm fall breeze. Any confusion was certainly cleared up with that simple intro to themselves as the boys rocked an eager and strong following ready to jam to their favorite tunes.

Mano, as some of the loyalists in the audience call them, got their fixes early with standout performances of “Everything to nothing” and “Shake it out.” Lead singer, Andy Hull and his beard put a spell on the crowd even without much banter other than the obligatory, “How is everybody?” An empathic “F**king fantastic” by the fan beside me summed it up nicely.

The most memorable performance for this reviewer came with “I’ve got friends.” When hull complains, “I’ve got friends in all the right places / I know what they want / and I know they don’t want me to stay,” you wonder if this was a personal statement of angst of his early days at Providence Christian Academy in the suburbs of Atlanta. As the story goes, feelings of alienation caused him to spend his senior year studying at home, while recording his first full length album. But my powers of psychology might have been off on this afternoon.

Of course, “Simple Math,” had to be done, and we were plenty happy to hear one our favorites. Then came “The only one,” where we were taken back to Providence Christian Academy with a clearer picture of where Hull came from:

“I bet you did what you did
when you did it
to do it again
by the time you were done with it
I bet you did what you did
when you did
just to tell every friend that you have
that the Lord did it”

Yeah, I knew it.

Mano gave a powerful set filled with emotion and bravado. The Queen would have definitely been proud; however, she could not be more proud than us here in the ATL.

Neko Case and company opened the evening promptly at 7:30. She’s a pretty high profile opener since she was filling out the Cobb Energy Center on her own when she was in town a couple years back. It does make me question how the opening band is choosen to begin with. I mean Neko and MMJ are both modern/indie rock staples, but I wouldn’t necessarily say they have complementary fanbases.

Case displayed her usual soaring vocals as she worked through select songs from ‘Middle Cyclone’ and ‘Fox Confessor Brings the Flood.’ During her 45 minute set, she featured two new tracks that were very characteristic of her sound. Overall, it was a good set and the only complaint I can levy is on the My Morning Jacket faithful, many of whom seemed more focused on their respective conversations than on Neko’s set. The fiery haired lady is a rare talent. Give her the respect she deserves.

After an hour plus stage shuffling, Jim James and his brothers in instruments welcomed the crowd with a one-two punch off of ‘Circuital,’ playing opening tracks ‘Victory Dance’ and the album’s title track to open the evening. James came equipped with a vocal sampler strung around his neck for ‘Victory Dance’ to throw in the song’s patented sonic effects.

The band wanted to show off their new baby and played ‘Circuital’ almost cover to cover. The tracks were quite flavorful live, and My Morning Jacket used the set as an open-ended jam sessions, allowing the songs to escape the boundaries they are pinned to on the album. That being said, there was certainly no neglect paid to their previous albums. They spread the wealth around sampling from ‘Z,’ ‘Evil Urges,’ ‘It Still Moves’ and even pulled ‘Cobra’ off of 2002s ‘Chocolate and Ice EP.’ It was like their setlist was a big fruit platter they couldn’t get enough of. Neko Case joined for the encore to duet a cover of Stevie Nick’s ‘Stop Draggin My Heart Around’ with Jim James. If Mrs. Case ever tires of her collaborative efforts with the New Pornographers, I think I may she may have a new musical playmate in James. ‘Islands in the Stream’ anyone?

The crowd was definitely plugged in to My Morning Jacket’s set. The heavily college skewed audience was grooving through the wafts of pot and random burst of glow sticks spraying out into the audience. The crowd watching was quite interesting from the guy sporting the polar bear hoodie to the couple doing the foxtrot to ‘Slow Slow Tune.’ Truthfully when lead singer Jim James mounts the stage following the encore proudly wearing a cape shouldn’t that tell you everything you need to know about the band’s followers? Then again, maybe the cape is simply James’ way of nudging the band’s into the bounds of prog rock.

My Morning Jacket put on a very good set. They brought a high level of energy and the sonic screaming guitars to the Atlanta crowd. I think its safe to say most left the venue brimming with satisfaction from seeing one of the best touring bands work their considerable magic. Best of luck in Europe boys, and stay away from those festivals with wobbly stages.

Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Alpharetta, GA | August 20, 2011
Victory Dance
Circuital
You Wanna Freak Out
Off the Record
I’m Amazed
Gideon
Golden Lyrics
Outta My System
Smokin from Shootin
Run Thru
Touch Me I’m Going to Scream Part 2
Dondante
Slow Slow Tune
Holdin on to Black Metal
Mahgeetah
**Encore**
Wordless Chorus
The Day is Coming
Cobra
Stop Draggin My Heart Around (w/ Neko Case)
Dancefloors
One Big Holiday

Scottish indie rock outfit Frightened Rabbit opened the evening. These boys aren’t strangers to Death Cab for Cutie as they opened for the band in 2008 during DCFC’s tour of Ireland and the UK. Frightened Rabbit’s 45-minute set wasn’t anything revolutionary, but they were a solid indie band trying to carve out a space for themselves in this crowded musical space. What they did do is plant enough intrigue to warrant checking out a few of their albums.

Death Cab took the stage around 9 and wasted no time launching into their two-hour set with “I Will Possess Your Heart.” The long meandering intro for the song helped stretch the crowd into the music. The event promoters had removed the temporary seating in front of the stage to pack in the masses general admission style so you could see the crowd start to sway as the collective tension began to build.

Death Cab for Cutie played hopscotch around their album catalog, jumping over to ‘Plans’ for a little ‘Crooked Teeth’ then digging through the archives for ‘We Laugh Indoors’ off ‘The Photo Album’ and ‘The Forbidden Love’s’ ‘Photobooth.’ Granted these earlier DCFC works got light attention, but the most recent four albums were fairly evenly sampled across the hefty 24-song setlist (The full track listing can be viewed below).

Just as Gibbard and company had wrapped ‘Long Division,’ Atlanta found out just how special it was. The crowd broke out into a song of their own, singing Happy Birthday to Ben. After a bit of an ‘aw shucks’ moment overtook Gibbard, he said there’s nothing he’d rather be doing than singing to us for his birthday. I half expected his wife Zooey Deschanel (500 Day of Summer) to walk out onstage and slap a wet one on him before leading him into a She and Him duet. Well a guy can dream can’t he?

The band sampled most of the radio hits as well as gave us a great look at the latest ‘Codes and Keys’ tracks live. It is a strong album that retains the group’s core sound, yet takes some welcomed risks that allow them to venture outside of their comfort zone and grow as a band. ‘Doors Unlocked and Open’ and ‘You are a Tourist’ were prime examples of this. Ideally, it would have been nice to sample more tracks from the new work during their set, notably ‘Unobstructed Views’ and ‘Home is a Fire.’

Looking at the set as a whole, ‘Follow You Into the Dark’ was a nice moment when the band departed the stage to allow Ben to funnel himself completely into the song. ‘We Looked Like Giants’ had a cool stretch where a second drum kit was brought onstage so Gibbard and drummer Jason McGerr could pound out every last beat of the song. What a perfect closing number ‘Transatlanticism’ was. Still the best Death Cab track on record, and I hope the band never tires of playing it live because its nothing short of perfection.

In all, Death Cab for Cutie performed a solid set like I’ve seen them do on numerous occasions. Was it the best show that I’ve seen them play — no. Was it the band’s fault — probably not. The acoustics in an amphitheatre just can’t match a 2600-capacity indoor venue like Atlanta’s Tabernacle. Also the audience energy just gets amplified in that compact space. I can remember catching Death Cab for Cutie there during the ‘Plans’ tour, and the balcony teemed with such excitement that I genuinely thought it might collapse onto the flowing crowd below. You just aren’t going to get that in an amphitheatre. They are certainly fun for summer — the tailgating, the whole outdoor concert experience — but the music lovers out there realize their limitations. Don’t let that stop you from catching Death Cab though. They are a great band live and a must see if you haven’t had the pleasure.

Death Cab for Cutie’s next stop is New Orlean’s Kiefer UNO Lakefront Arena tomorrow night, and they’ll be on the road until September 22 when they wrap up the tour with a show to satiate the hometown crowd at Seattle’s Key Arena.

Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre in Alpharetta, GA | August 11, 2011
I Will Possess Your Heart
Crooked Teeth
We Laugh Indoors
Photobooth
Doors Unlocked and Open
Long Division
Grapevine Fires
Codes and Keys
Sarah Said
Follow You Into the Dark
Title Track
You are a Tourist
The New Year
Some Boys
Soul Meets Body
Little Bribes
St Peter’s Cathedral
Cath
We Looked Like Giants
Marching Bands of Manhattan
**Encore**
Stay Young, Go Dancing
Title and Registration
The Sound of Settling
Transatlanticism

Soul brother John Legend opened the evening about 10 minutes past the posted ticket time which is always nice for a weeknight. Legend is touring in support of his 2010 album “Wake Up” that he recorded with the Roots. I’ve had the pleasure of seeing him once before, and the man doesn’t disappoint. He had an hour to warm up the audience for Sade, and he wasn’t going to waste a second of it. He opened with a cool take on Adele’s “Rolling in the Deep” then flowed one song right into the next, effortlessly winding back through his catalog from “Wake Up” to “Lifted.” The man oozed soul and unfortunately no one informed him that he was the opener. In the face of a half packed arena busily milling in, Legend belted out tracks from “Green Light” and “Get Lifted” to “Everybody Knows” and “Save Room.” He had a fun audience moment when he invited a women onto the stage to do a little “Slow Dance” with him. He kicked his seduction skills into high gear with a bit of dirty dancing you’d think would make her blush. Nothing could be further from the truth. She returned the favor, seemingly wanting to make Legend skip out on girlfriend Sports Illustrated swimsuit model Christine Teigen. At the close of his time on stage, we were jonsing for an encore, but alas the main course was still on the way.

Artists seem to have their own style when it comes to the stage setup. Sade’s can be best described as minimalist. No elaborate sets, billowing smoke or dwarfs riding miniature ponies. With arena shows, we’ve been trained to expect these over the top elements of showmanship. Whether the performers are trying to justify the high ticket price or take the attention away from the songs, its hard to pinpoint. Tonight, it was just Sade, the band and a huge screen to give a visual backdrop to the tunes. There was no need for anything else. She let the music speak for itself. Sade opened the evening with “Soldier of Love.” If it wasn’t clear on the first listen in your living room, the new album embraces rock and the art of the beat much more than its smooth predecessors. She took advantage of the tempo change onstage to really sink her groove into these tracks. Overall, the set was more focused on material from “Ultimate Collection” than “Soldier of Love.” I guess when you only tour once a decade the paying public demands the hits. That’s not necessarily a bad thing.

From the second number of the evening “Your Love is King” to the closing encore “Cherish the Day,” Sade had the audience on their feet and completely invested in the show. When she downshifted, she found her way into some really nice moments. Her stirring take on “Pearls” was chills worthy. She traveled the spectrum of sound with a subtle cool that I’d imagine few outside of Nina Simone could command onstage.

One of the more interesting elements of the show was a mesh curtain that dropped around the stage for a few select numbers. You could see the ghostly figure of Sade and the band behind the backdrop as they overlaid the screen with images projected onto it. It was a bit off-putting at first as you thought, why is she performing behind a curtain, but it quickly becomes apparent that this is a pretty cool effect. Thankfully, they were careful not to overuse it. With that said, the segue way into “Smooth Operator,” that doubled as a quick water break for the band, was a bit corny at best.

Some of the evening’s highlights included “No Ordinary Love,” dripping in sensuality with its forceful guitars that afforded it a punch I hadn’t remembered from the record version. “The Sweetest Taboo” was another soul melting performance. She lit into this number on her third costume change of the night into her evening gown. She was absolutely stunning. I have to ask, does the woman age? If you look at her skin, she doesn’t look a day over 35 yet she just eclipsed 52 this year. Maybe she just has the fountain of youth gurgling in her backyard in the UK. I believe I may have found your next spokeswoman Olay.

An unlikely highlight of the evening was when Sade took time to thank the band. Every singer calls out their bandmates names as if to say, yeah don’t forget those guys were on stage tonight with me as well. Sade thanked each individually and said what each musician meant to the group as a whole. Some of these guys have been with her since the early 80s, and you could tell she really valued their contribution to the band and saw them as family. If I were to find a fault with anything, it was not pulling John Legend back out on stage for a shared duet. These performers make up the best R&B/Soul of their respective generations. It just makes too much sense to pull them together for at least one song.

I’ve been a fan of Sade’s since she stole the film “Indecent Proposal” with “No Ordinary Love.” This concert had been on my musical bucket list for many, many years and as stifling as those lofty expectations had to be to live up to, she didn’t disappoint in the least. She was genuine, cool and her voice was absolutely flawless. She brought to life three decades worth of music like the songs had just escaped the recording studio yesterday. I’m just glad I was able to catch her performance before she ducks out of the spotlight one more time. Catch her now before you have to wait until the calendar rolls around to 2022.

The evening was started by quirky Dubliner Lisa O’Neill. This virtual unknown seems to have secured the slot on David Gray’s tour when a local DJ sent her disc to Gray. After seeing her on YouTube and meeting with her, Gray asked her to come aboard as opening support and backing vocalist. A big break for her to say the least. O’Neill seemed to have a bundle of fun songs about spiking obnoxious customer’s coffee with whole milk and the like. While they were lyrically clever and she clearly possesses talent, she never really connected with me. Her frequent asides between songs were rather funny so if the music thing doesn’t work out she should explore stand-up comedy as a firm fallback option.

After a brief stage shuffling, David Gray came out as dapper as ever in his charcoal suit. He was ready to launch the show in earnest, but unfortunately his guitar wouldn’t cooperate. It took about a minute to get the guitar properly talking to the amps which is a fairly common occurrence during a concert, but unfortunately that isn’t where the technical glitches stopped. Gray got a massive dose of feedback mid way into the encore that physically shook him up then seemed to slowly morph into a skin-boiling look. Whether the blame was pinned to a roadie or the sound tech, I would not want to be them after Gray chews them a new one during the post-concert row.

Thankfully, a few isolated technical hiccups seemed to be the low points of the evening. The set list seemed to survey his post-‘Flesh’ career, sampling equitably from the five albums. There was a very intimate feel to the set on the whole. It is said that Gray mic’d the acoustic instruments for real sound rather than the traditional pick-up sound which should pull down the volume levels. It definitely afforded a very listening room type atmosphere that you’d see on an Austin City Limits taping (the TV show, not the festival). Some of the older tracks were reported to have been reimagined to fit this more stripped down approach he was aiming for. ‘Lately’ and ‘The One I Love’ were two songs that really benefited from this fresh take.

Gray’s voice was flawless as usual and instilled goose bumps in me when he dove into the depths of ‘This Year’s Love.’ It was perhaps best showcased when the other five musicians temporarily left the stage so Gray could punctuate ‘Hold On’ solo. It was a beautiful rendition that makes me wish he’d sent the crew on a water break on a few more songs during the set. Granted, the performance wasn’t all sugar and spice. ‘Forgetting’ felt like a dead spot within the set, but it may have been more of a lyrical issue more so than a performance defect. It’s not something I noticed when previewing the album, but was a rough one to swallow when I heard it performed live.

This was my third time seeing David Gray since he first hit my radar on the ‘White Ladder’ tour, and he has kept evolving into the stellar live artist he is today. The emotion flows effortlessly out of his voice, and he meticulously fleshes out each song on stage in a way that no recording could ever do justice. The 2-hour set was filled with panoramic snapshots of his time as a recording musician from ‘Kathleen’ and ‘Alibi’ to ‘Fugitive’ and ‘Sail Away.’ It formed a rich portrait of an artist hitting the maturity of his career, brimming with a satisfaction and charisma. It signals David Gray is going to be a fixture on the music scene for decades to come.

The evening opened with two acts – Matthew and the Atlas, The Low Anthem. Both acts sounded like they were cut from the same folk cloth as Mumford, and they had just followed their supporting gig with Mumford and Sons through Bonnaroo Music Festival the day before. No one looked any worse for the wear as both bands put forth solid sets. Matthew and the Atlas seemed a little more along the Iron and Wine, Ray Lamontagne vein while The Low Anthem seemed more comfortable painting atmospheric portraits through song. These are definitely a couple of bands to keep your eyes on as the years roll by.

Then it was time for the main course of the evening. The quartet wasted no time bounding the stage and launching into the album’s opening salvo “Sigh No More.” It was a high-energy performance and the perfect launching pad for the evening. As the song wrapped, frontman Marcus Mumford told each audience member to introduce themselves to the person on their left as well as the one on their right because we’re all in for quite a journey this evening. What a journey it was covering their debut album just about cover-to-cover as well as introducing us to four new songs that will undoubtedly become fixtures on their upcoming album.

After hitting “Winter Winds” and a new song called “Below My Feet,” the band took a bold step. Can 5000 people shut their traps long enough so the band can unplug the amps and go all-acoustic? I’ll have to admit it was a bit dicey at first. There were members of the audience that seemed to be inflicted by their own special form of tourette’s. Thankfully, the collective pulled it together and supported the boys of Mumford as they performed a chilling version of “Timshel” as well as unveiling the tune “Sister.” The four new tracks that were introduced were very high caliber and should relieve any fans worrying the band might fall victim to the dreaded sophomore curse that seems to befall so many promising bands. Marcus Mumford said they’d been working on new tracks throughout the tour and plan to lay them down in the studio as soon as they wrap their current slate of dates. Are we looking at the perfect stocking stuffer perhaps?

Mumford’s stage show seemed to be a light extravaganza. They setup a wall of lights before they came on the stage, and they used them throughout to gyrate in time with the beat. In a cool effect, they even had lights strung up over the audience in the lower orchestra section that made the sizable venue seem almost homely. The one worry I had entering the show was how the album would translate to the stage and more so the larger venue. I’ve always seen “Sigh No More” as an intimate collection that plugs into the listener. What happens when its asked to sprawl to the furthest reaches of the balcony? First, it seems the album rocks a lot heavier than I had originally gave it credit for. The boys tore up tracks like “White Blank Page” and “Little Lion Man.” Secondly, they seemed to ignore the space. They played their set as if we were in a coffee-house listening room and looked to connect with every listener regardless their distance from the stage. This was their room, and they weren’t going to let anything detract from the power of these songs.

After a lengthy set, they returned to the stage to perform a song they were still constructing that I’ll temporarily call “Lover, I’ll be Home” and closed the evening with their barn burner “The Cave.” The energy from the crowd was electric. Being in the balcony and feeling the rumble, it makes you wonder just how solid the engineering was in the 20s when this place was built. The audience was entranced by Mumford. They knew the album inside and out, and positively received the new material Mumford was still toying with.

It was a fabulous evening of music. Mumford and Sons outdid themselves, and this goes down as my favorite performance to date in 2011. They have an energy and showmanship that is tough to duplicate, and they are destined to be big stars. Watch out Coldplay. You’ve got serious competition nipping at your heels on the arena circuit. These folk rockers have the goods, and they are certainly not afraid to bring it.