Mumford And Sons Bring Hozier, Aaron Dessner and Sierra Ferrell to SNL Stage
Mumford And Sons made their fourth appearance on Saturday Night Live on Feb. 28, performing two songs from their new album Prizefighter and bringing surprise guests Hozier, co-producer Aaron Dessner and Sierra Ferrell to the stage — a high-profile stop as the band readies a world tour that begins April 24 in Melbourne.
Mumford And Sons on SNL: two Prizefighter tracks and surprise guests
The British trio opened the show with “Rubber Band Man, ” a track from Prizefighter that features Hozier and was co-written by Brandi Carlile; Dessner joined onstage and played electric guitar before Hozier emerged from side stage to sing his parts. The group followed with the album opener “Here, ” which on record features Chris Stapleton but was performed with Sierra Ferrell on the SNL stage while Dessner provided backing for both songs; Dessner also co-produced Prizefighter.
Fourth SNL visit and a nod to the band’s recent run
This marked Mumford And Sons’ fourth appearance on the late-night program; their previous visit was in 2018 to promote the album Delta. Prizefighter is the band’s second album in less than a year, following Rushmere, which was released last March as their first record performed as a trio after guitarist and banjoist Winston Marshall left the band in part due to political differences.
Band comments and production praise
Marcus Mumford, 39, said several months out from Prizefighter’s release that it was his favorite of the group’s albums and described it as the most direct record the band has made; he made the remark to People Magazine. Co-founder Ted Dwane, 41, praised Aaron Dessner’s production work and called Dessner “a real ally, ” noting the band had been fans of The National and first worked with Dessner while preparing their third record, Wilder Mind.
SNL sketches, cameo and a secret warm-up show
Beyond the musical performances, Marcus Mumford, Ben Lovett and Ted Dwane made a cameo in an office-themed sketch — described as an ill-advised workplace dance — during which they performed a snippet of “Unchained Melody. ” The band had warmed up for the SNL appearance with a hastily organized secret show on Tuesday at the 500-capacity Music Hall of Williamsburg, where they performed unamplified with a four-piece string section and extra singers.
Host, monologue cameos and other episode moments
The episode was hosted by Heated Rivalry star Connor Storrie in his first time as host; Storrie’s monologue included 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 tied to last weekend’s controversy when Donald Trump undermined the women’s hockey team during a congratulatory call to the men’s team. The women’s team declined an 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. Other sketches on the show included an ice-skating bit featuring Hudson Williams and a pre-filmed sketch cut for time starring Veronika Slowikowska and Jane Wickline about confusing car handles in Ubers.
