It was a major concert announcement that followed with several meetings, questions, concerns and excitement. Now, it’s a thing of the past, but it was Guthrie, Oklahoma shining for the Gentleman of the Road Stopover as Mumford & Sons capped off the weekend.
Marcus Mumford entertains the crowd at the GOTR Stopover in Guthrie. Photo By Chris Evans
People from 48 states and six countries quadruple the size of Guthrie for one of the three stops in the United States as part of the Gentleman of the Road (GOTR) tour. The crowd was estimated at 40,000 with ticket sales last reported at 38,500 early Saturday morning.
The Grammy-winning British rockers, Mumford & Sons, entertained for two hours in the Cottonwood Flats. In total, 12 bands played over two days on the concert stage and several more played in the downtown festival for the three-day event.
The band, Marcus Mumford (lead vocals, guitar, drums, mandolin), Ben Lovett (vocals, keyboards, accordion, drums), Winston Marshall (vocals, banjo, guitar, resonator guitar) and Ted Dwane (vocals, string bass, drums, guitar), acknowledge the thousands of concert-goers for their attendance and several times thanked everyone in Guthrie.
Mumford told the crowd he enjoyed his stay in Guthrie, but that he was not quite ready for the heat as temperatures reached triple digits on the last two days.
The group was seen at several local businesses and participated with people in the streets, including at the downtown stage.
Mumford & Sons, along with their friends from other bands, arrived on Thursday and took in a game of futbol (soccer) inside Jelsma Stadium. The Guthrie High School band was playing throughout downtown before taking a turn into the “Rock” to find the competitive soccer game. It took seconds before some of the band (girl) members to realize who was playing. Afterwards, the GHS band took a group picture with the rock stars and each were given free entrance to the downtown festival.
Turns out Mumford is a huge motorcycle fan and was quite happy to see Police Chief Damon Devereaux bring his cycle so he could take a ride throughout the town.
On Friday, the group presented a check for $109,000 to the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma for Oklahomans affected by the May tornadoes that hit Moore, Shawnee, Carney and other towns. The money raised came from 1,000 tickets that were sold.
Came from Dallas, TX and was impressed with how nice and welcoming the locals were. The Downtown area went all out. I had a great time !
What a great time we had! Heat? Yes, but it was bearable, and as all musicians reminded us, “hydrate,” “are you drinking water?”. I’m so pround to be from such a welcoming town. I saw a few of the GOTR stars at Byron Berline’s show – such humble and talented guys. I think they liked us 🙂