Mumford & Sons made a raucous, celebrated return to the stage on Sunday night for their Glastonbury 2013 closing set, recruiting some all-star backup to help bring the festival to a high-note climax.
The band’s first show since bass player Ted Dwane underwent emergency surgery for a bloodclot on his brain – concluded with a version of The Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends,” featuring members of Vampire Weekend, the Vaccines, First Aid Kit and the Staves. Vocal duties were a collaborative effort among the various bands.
“We’ve been a band for going on six years,” keyboard player Ben Lovett told the huge crowd as he introduced “Roll Away Your Stone.” “The Rolling Stones have been a band for much longer than that – the big difference between them and us is that we’ve played Glastonbury five times now. You bring us back every year – Glastonbury, thank you for everything.”
“It’s a huge moment for us,” said frontman Marcus Mumford before the finale. “We knew we were closing out the festival so we thought we’d do an appropriate song with the appropriate people.”
Mumford & Sons’ headlining set was the final of the festival’s three-day run, with Arctic Monkeys headlining on Friday night with an explosively good set, while the Rolling Stones headlined on Saturday.
Mumford and Sons Glastonbury 2013 Setlist
“Lovers’ Eyes”
“I Will Wait”
“Whispers in the Dark”
“Winter Winds”
“White Blank Page”
“Timshel”
“Little Lion Man”
“Lover of the Light”
“Thistle & Weeds”
“Ghosts That We Knew”
“Hopeless Wanderer”
“Holland Road”
“Roll Away Your Stone”
“Awake My Soul”
“Dust Bowl Dance”
“Babel”
“The Cave”
“With a Little Help from My Friends”
