Coachella 2011: Mumford and Sons asks crowd to dance

Their songs aren't the easiest to sing along to, but the crowd at Coachella (at least the ones closest to the stage) did so with gusto screaming the lyrics to familiar songs from Mumford and Sons debut U.S album "Sigh No More." The new songs, and there were two, were a little trickier (one fan nearby even said "aww" in disappointment when frontman Marcus Mumford said they would be playing new songs) but the crowd eventually caughton as the initially mellow songs built to the usual Mumford and Sons crescendo of banjo, horn and bass drum. "Shall we dance, Coachella?" asked Mumford before the band launched into their widely played single, "Little Lion Man." On cue, women were lifted onto shoulders and hands raised in unison. "This is by far the biggest gig we've ever done as a band," Mumford told the crowd, seeming genuinely honored to be a part of the festival. The band's banjo player - whose hipscould have managed a hula-hoop while he played - said he came to Coachella in 2007 to catch Rage Against the Machine. Considering the event's strict timing for main stage acts this weekend - cutting the sound on artists who arrived late and performed later - Mumford and Sons played their full set despite starting 20 minutes later than the schedule said they would, and ending their set at 9:32, 12 minutes after the schedule had them ending. It's a good thing they did - from my vantage point near the front, the crowd loved them.