Mumford & Sons @ COTA

This past Saturday Hank and I attended the Mumford & Sons show at the beautiful Austin 360 Amphitheater at the Circuit of the Americas racetrack. This new facility was finished last fall just in time to host an F1 race. I'm not really into racing, but I do love that they are using this space for a variety of purposes, and bringing some really great events to our already fantastic city. (You can come visit, just don't move here!)

We were lucky enough to win the early ticket lottery that Mumford arranged (in an effort to avoid scalpers getting all the tickets), and purchased them the second I got the email. We felt like little kids waiting for Christmas, and were so excited when the big day finally arrived! Since we live WAY out in West Austin, and the concert is WAY out in East Austin, we knew we had to find a responsible way to get to and from the concert. There were rumors flying around our 'hood that there was an inexpensive shuttle that made trips downtown. Hank did a little google searching, and sure enough he found Responsible Ride.  A quick call confirmed that they were shuttling to the concert for $15 round trip, per person. Uh, hello?! $30 to safely get to a concert that is at least 40 minutes from our house? Sign us up. We met the van (and our fellow concert go-ers) and then this happened:

About an hour later, we rolled up right to the front of the amphitheater, checked in with our credit card, and went to get ourselves some ridiculously overpriced tacos and beer before finding our spots. Not gonna lie- my one and only complaint was how expensive food and drinks were. $11 for two piddly tacos (filled with corn and black beans) and $10 "specialty" beers. But...small price to pay for an otherwise stellar concert experience. The place is beautiful, the people were really nice and it's just a really well put together venue. Wish I had taken more pictures, but I was too excited to just be there.

When I bought the tickets, I didn't realized that I had purchased them for the pit. I wasn't in the mood to stand with a bunch of people though, so we initially found a spot on the lawn and got comfy. Knowing I would never find my way back in the dark after a bathroom visit, I decided to go before the band started. While up, I got a good view of the pit and realized that we really should take advantage of it while we could, and told Hank I was willing to move down there (he really wanted to from the start). I'm so glad we did, because we got pretty close to the stage, and stood around a fun group of people. It made the concert that much better being so close! Not sure how long the band played, but they performed all of my favorite songs, and closed it out with a stellar encore that included a cover of Bruce Springsteen's "I'm On Fire". (Video at bottom of post if you don't mind poor quality- just give it a few minutes and you can hear them.)

It took forever to make our way out of the venue and get home, but neither of us were driving so we really didn't care. I fell asleep on the bus and probably missed a lot of fun with our new friends, but at least we made it home safely. So glad to know we have the option of a really inexpensive van to get us where we want to go for a fun night out!

Sad to hear that the bassist for the ban was hospitalized after the Austin shows due to a blood clot, and is hopefully recovering from surgery by now. They cancelled the remainder of their Texas shows, and I hope he gets to feeling better soon. He performed like a true rock star, and I can't believe he was feeling so badly while putting on such a great show. If you ever have the chance to see them- it's well worth any amount you pay. They are truly fantastic live!