On Saturday the 6th of February 2016 I made my way to the Voortrekker Monument Amphitheatre to watch Mumford and Sons perform live.
Here’s what went down on the day at the Mumford and Sons concert in Pretoria
I arrived at the venue around 5 PM. Our shuttle dropped us off at the gate and after handing a friend her tickets I made my way up that bloody hill and around the Voortrekker Monument to the entrance to the concert area. I have to admit that it took quite some time to get my cashless event card and get helped at the bar, but I did not mind, I actually had some great conversations in both those queues and I knew that an ice cold Jagermeister was waiting for me at the bar.
Walking down those steps into the amphitheatre and seeing smiling and excited faces of 25,000 people (some wrapped up in rain ponchos) made me realize that I was going to part of something special. I still remember hearing their song, “The Cave” on Rob Forbes’ Breakfast Show on Tuks FM way back in 2010 or 2011 for the first time and seeing this crowd made me realize how huge their SA fan base had become since then. The mere fact that ALL their SA shows had sold out in record time should be sufficient evidence if you don’t believe me.
I watched a bit of the opening act’s performances and they were good, but it was clear what my main focus was for the evening: Mumford and Sons were performing in my city and I was intent on enjoying every second of it.
Mumford and Sons stepped onto that magnificent stage at 9 PM and completely blew everyone away with a set that can only be described as “memorable and amazing”. They played songs from all 3 of their albums.
The second highlight of their set was hearing them play “The Cave” and hearing how the crowd singing along to every single word of the song. I know the clip below is from Reading (a festival which can accommodate 80,000 people) but it sounded a lot like this:
The third highlight was definitely the crowd holding up their phones during their performance of “Believe”. Check out the video on Facebook here.
The fourth highlight was definitely listening, dancing and singing along to “Little Lion Man” in the pouring rain. I will never forget this amazing moment and I really hope I experience it again in the future. Man, that was amazing.
Kudos to Hilltop Live for the opportunity to cover this event and bringing Mumford and Sons over. I hope they return one day as a headlining act at Oppikoppi.
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