By Max Stewart

Ahead of their massive arena show in downtown Atlanta, Mumford & Sons did something many major musicians would scoff at given their multi-platinum level of success… they did an in-store record performance at the famous Criminal Records in the Little Five Points neighborhood for maybe a few hundred people. There were die-hard fans who waited 10+ hours outside for the intimate acoustic show, in which Marcus Mumford joked with the audience in the laid-back atmosphere between the band’s stripped down, four-song set that included “The Cave,” “Forever,”  and “Guiding Light.”

Mumford spoke of taking in the city’s sights (attending the Atlanta Hawks game the night before and attending the Center for Civil and Human Rights during the day), laughingly dodged a question about the band allegedly being kicked out of ATL’s seedy Clermont Lounge during their last visit to town (“I was not there…”), and gave a guitar pick to a young girl  – Abby – in the front who was crying tears of joy throughout the performance as she watched alongside her mom, Sarah Krebs.

Can’t beat these kind of special live moments for fans, that’s what it’s all about. Kudos to Mumford for not being above providing their fans an experience of a lifetime at a cool local record store.