When someone asked me what I was doing this weekend and I said, “My sister bought me a ticket to the Mumford and Sons concert in Walla Walla,” the response was, “Do you think your sister would adopt me?”
Apparently Mumford and Sons are behind a touring music festival, “Gentlemen of the Road,” that includes stopovers in obscure places like Walla Walla. Artists include Foo Fighters, Jenny Lewis, Dawes, and the Flaming Lips.
There were 20,000 tickets sold for the concert in a town of about 30,000. They closed downtown to cars and charged non-ticket-holding pedestrians an entrance fee because they set up several stages on side streets for local bands.
Local businesses rolled out the red carpet for the Gentlemen of the Road tour, and there were British flags everywhere. This furniture store had an especially popular selfie station. (Alyssa, rumor has it that this is your cousin’s shop.) Rumor also has it that local eateries reduced portions and raised prices for the weekend, creating such things as half a turkey sandwich for $12. Luckily for us, Nene had a delicious home-cooked food plan.
Local residents showing support for the visitors.
The downtown quilt/fabric shop.
My wristband!
Nene and Steven’s cat, Maddie. (I had photos up on my laptop on the plane home, and as I was paging through Maddie photos, the woman next to me says, “I’m sorry, but that’s incredibly cute.”)
The delicious dinner Nene made on the first day. The cilantro sauce is vegan, and the tomatoes are from Nene and Steven’s garden.
The stage!
The trash near the food tents.
Adventist Health! Walla Walla General Hospital is on-hand to provide medical services.
Dawes. They invited Marcus Mumford (far right) up to play “When My Times Comes” with them.
Waiting for Foo Fighters to start.
Since Dave Grohl broke his leg during a concert in Sweden, he performs from a throne. He is high-energy and entertaining, telling stories of the “sweet people” with Mumford and Sons who sent him an email asking him to go to a placed called Walla Walla for a concert. He said he likes stuff weird, so he agreed, and wasn’t disappointed.
More amazing food from Nene’s kitchen. Huckleberry oatmeal, vegan smoked apple sage sausages (she sent some home with me!), and vegan coffee-free vanilla cardamon “coffee” made with dandelions instead of coffee beans.
Since I visited for spring break, we’ve started a tradition of trying to beat Ori and the Blind Forest. That game is tough! But so pretty, and so rewarding once you accomplish something (after dying an average of 100 times an hour). Steven did finally beat the game, but they were kind enough to let me pick up where I left off while we waited for the next round of concerts to start.
Day two’s dinner was vegan tofu deliciousness over rice.
We sat in the shade and listened to the Vaccines and Jenny Lewis. Nene pulled out our childhood coloring books and the 64-count box of crayons.
Jenny Lewis. She and her backup singers did some fantastic acapella segments for part of the set.
The Flaming Lips. A headline on the Oregon Live website today reads “The Flaming Lips blow Walla Walla’s mind at Gentlemen of the Road.” They put on a captivating show. Between the Lips and Mumford, we ended up standing for five hours, but it felt much shorter.
Wayne Coyne delivers a giant scorpion of balloons to the crowd.
Coyne in his bubble.
He rolled off the stage and into the crowd for some surfing.
And finally, the main event, Mumford and Sons!
Mumford said he used to play cricket in his mate’s backyard and listen to the Offspring’s “Walla Walla.”
They were so excited to be in Walla Walla that they performed “Walla Walla” with Mumford on the drums and Winston Marshall singing.
Winding down the Mumford concert.
As the grand finale, Mumford called some of the day’s performers back on stage for the Beatles’ “A Little Help From My Friends.”
One Foo Fighters clip, three Flaming Lips clips (I meant to take one, but they kept doing interesting stuff), and Mumford and Sons! We have a clip of Mumford’s introduction, part of the first song, part of “Little Lion Man,” part of the Offspring’s “Walla Walla” (which has fairly poor sound as it was so loud–I think my camera’s ears were blasted out), part of “I Will Wait,” part of “Sister,”and part of the last song with everyone on stage.