Mumford And Sons Bring Prizefighter Songs To SNL
mumford and sons made their fourth appearance on Saturday Night Live, performing two songs from their new album Prizefighter and appearing in sketches and cameos during the episode. The band opened with “Rubber Band Man” and later played the album’s opening track “Here, ” joined onstage by several guest musicians.
Mumford And Sons on SNL
The English folk rock band opened their set with “Rubber Band Man, ” a track that features Irish musician Hozier and was co-written by Brandi Carlile. Hozier joined the band onstage to sing his parts, and co-producer Aaron Dessner, who co-produced Prizefighter, accompanied the group for both songs. The group’s second performance was “Here, ” the opening track to Prizefighter, which features Chris Stapleton on the studio version; singer-songwriter Sierra Ferrell sang on the live show in Stapleton’s place.
Stage Guests and Production
Aaron Dessner, identified in the performance as a co-producer, was onstage as a backing player. Co-founder Ted Dwane, 41, praised Dessner’s work, saying, “Dessner, he just feels like a real ally. ” Dwane noted that the band had been fans of Dessner’s group and that they met and worked with him while preparing their third record, Wilder Mind.
Band Comments on Prizefighter
Marcus Mumford, 39, described Prizefighter as his favorite of the group’s albums thus far, saying that after reaching a certain stage in their careers the band felt comfortable enough “to talk straight. ” He characterized the record as their “straightest talking record” and the closest to the band’s essence, adding that the album “doesn’t feel like it has much” of any artifice and is “just f—ing us and our mates, ” language he used to stress the album’s directness. He made these comments several months out from the album’s release.
Recent Releases and Lineup Change
Prizefighter is the group’s second album in less than a year. Their previous release, Rushmere, came out last March and was the band’s first record as a trio after guitarist and banjoist Winston Marshall left the band, a departure the context attributes in part to political differences with his bandmates.
Sketches, Cameos and Host Monologue
The episode was hosted by Heated Rivalry star and fictional hockey player Connor Storrie, his first time as host. Storrie’s monologue featured cameos from U. S. Olympic hockey gold medalists Jack and Quinn Hughes from the men’s team and Hilary Knight and Megan Keller from the women’s team. Knight said, “It was gonna be just [the women], but we thought we'd invite the guys too, ” a line referencing last weekend’s controversy when Donald Trump undermined the women’s hockey team during a congratulatory call to the men’s team. The context notes that, unlike the male athletes, the women ultimately declined Trump’s invite to this week’s State Of The Union address, citing their travel schedule, and instead received an invite to party with Flavor Flav in Las Vegas.
Connor Storrie’s Heated Rivalry castmate Hudson Williams appeared in an ice skating sketch. Mumford and Sons also turned up in an office-themed sketch where they delivered a few lines and played a short acoustic rendition of “Unchained Melody. ” A pre-filmed sketch that was cut for time featured Veronika Slowikowska and Jane Wickline performing a hip-hop song about confusing car handles in Ubers.
Mumford and Sons are touring Australia and New Zealand in April before hitting North America in June, then Europe. The band will be back in the United States through October, when they are scheduled to headline Louisville, Kentucky’s Bourbon & Beyond Festival.
Closing the night’s music set, the band left the stage having showcased collaborations from Hozier, Dessner and Sierra Ferrell while presenting material from Prizefighter and underscoring the lineup and touring changes that have followed their recent releases.
