Mumford & Sons debut new song “Rubberband Man” at sold-out Philadelphia show

Tuesday night, Mumford & Sons turned the Xfinity Mobile Arena into a campfire singalong at their sold-out show in Philadelphia on Oct. 14. With simple staging and a band that flexed like an accordion to fit the song — from the core trio of Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett, and Ted Dwane to a fully expanded group that added guitar, banjo, drums, and a three-piece horn section, the band played through material from their entire career across a 22-song show.

Early on, Marcus told the crowd they ‘weren’t gonna mess around, Philadelphia,’ before launching into “Little Lion Man,” arguably their biggest hit, as the fourth tune. Harmonies soared, and several times throughout the night, the band’s singing fell away to let the audience carry the choruses. The band also headed through the crowd to perform a stripped-back mini-set of three songs atop a “B-stage” by the mixing console, and later, Marcus ran and sang through the audience on “Ditmas.”

When Mumford & Sons first started touring in the late ‘00s, it seemed unlikely that a band of Brits playing acoustic pub rock Americana could someday fill arenas, but between the cathartic singalongs and heart-on-sleeve emotions of the songs, Mumford & Sons managed to evoke the anthemic qualities of a U2 show.

And they gave us a world debut of a new song last night. Tuesday afternoon, keyboardist Ben Lovett checked in with Mike V on the air on XPN on his way to the venue for soundcheck and spilled the beans on a new song coming out next week — it’s called “Rubberband Man,” and the studio version features Hozier on duet vocals with Marcus Mumford. The Philly show was the first time the band played it in front of an audience—so at least until the studio version drops next week, we’ve got the world debut here.