Of Monsters And Men Light Up Somerset House!

On Tuesday (July 16), Of Monsters and Men took to the stage in the idyllic Somerset House as part of the Summer Series in association with American Express. 

 

A whole host of artists have been gracing the stage this past week but Tuesday night it was the Icelandic group that were rocking it out to a full court yard.

 

Feeling: Somerset House is an amazing venue with its picturesque court yard and cobbled path. It felt like we were miles away from the city in a country manor, with the crowd eagerly awaiting the arrival of the band as the sun set.

The Look: The location alone is so beautiful that a stage could have become lost in the architectural exquisiteness, but Of Monsters and Men made use of the beautiful surroundings, decorating it with coloured lanterns and light bulbs scattered around the stage. With each beat the lights danced and highlighted the entire court yard. 

 

 

Tunes: The Icelandic group sound is a mixture of Mumford & Sons and The Pogues; a folk group with a strong distinctive vocal range. Seven artists make up the band and to our amazement, they had every instrument imaginable. There were bass guitars, electric guitars, a trumpet, an accordion, two pianos and a drummer. Not only that, but the artists moved around swapping instruments as well as singing. It was pretty exhausting but incredible to watch. When they played their most popular hit Little Talks towards the end of the set, the crowd went wild singing and dancing as silver sparklers shot out from the stage and floated around us like butterflies. During the set they also played Dirty Paws, Mountain Sound and King and Lionheart as well as some less well-known tracks.

 

Special Guests: Not tonight, apart from a few midges. 

Banter: Guitarist and singer Raggi was the spokesperson for the group and although English isn’t his first language, he had the crowd laughing. He described one song as being 'too bad' to put on the album about a neighbour who lived under his bed, which we throughly enjoyed! The drummer Arnar who had a resemblance of Super DJ David Guetta, had us clapping and swaying our arms to the beat.

 

Celeb Spots: No famous faces to note at the event that night but our eyes were glued to the stage to see what instrument would be introduced next.

 

Sweat Factor: It was another scorcher of a day and the sold out event was sticky but bearable. As Of Monster and Men took to the stage, the temperature was dropping but the packed house only got hotter as the folk group belted out their tunes.

 

Summary: Of Monsters and Men were upbeat and entertaining. Somerset House is enchanting, the midges were painful but itching aside, it was a great way to spend a Tuesday night.