Mumford & Sons to play at Twist & Shout

Paul Epstein wasn’t surprised when he got a call from Mumford & Sons’ management in May, asking if the band could stop in for an acoustic performance at his East Colfax Avenue record shop.

“They’ve done it occasionally in their career,” Epstein, the owner of Twist & Shout Records, said of the British pop-folk act. “They did a legendary (in-store) show at Bull Moose Records in Maine about eight years ago that’s still talked about. And with them playing three nights here, they were looking for things to do over the weekend.”

What surprised Epstein, however, was the nature of the show. The band requested that Epstein only offer 150 wristbands to fans for a 2:30 p.m. in-store set on Friday, Aug. 16. That would help keep the crowd small and the noise to a minimum, since the band wanted to play a true acoustic set with no amplification whatsoever.

“They just want to run in with their guitars, play some stuff, take some photos with fans and run out,” Epstein said. “They really have this neat, almost busking attitude that I haven’t seen from too many bands, certainly at this level. It reminds me of Jack White playing at that (service station) here in 2012. It has that feel to it — this huge group at their peak doing something really unexpected and small.”

Mumford & Sons, a multiplatinum-selling, Grammy-winning act, is scheduled to play three consecutive nights at Fiddler’s Green Amphitheatre, Aug. 15-17 in Greenwood Village. A trio of sold-out shows at the 18,000-capacity Fiddler’s Green offers as many potential fans as a sold-out Colorado Rockies game, or at the average concert at Broncos Stadium at Mile High.

While wristbands to the instore sold out a long time ago, Mumford devotees can still try to catch a glimpse of their heroes at 2508 E. Colfax Ave. Twist & Shout will remain open to the public during the performance, although only wristband-holders will get direct access to the stage area.

“In terms of selling records, these guys are about as big as we’ve had,” Epstein said. “We’ve had as many or 400 or 500 people in here for (other in-stores), although as we’ve grown we’ve gotten more fixtures, so 300 is a packed house for us now.”

In fact, as one of Colorado’s biggest (and last remaining) record stores, Twist & Shout is no stranger to big in-store appearances, having hosted the likes of Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, Drive-By Truckers and The Pretenders amid its vinyl stacks over the years, as well as a who’s-who of Colorado names (Big Head Todd and the Monsters, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, Tennis) and jam bands.

“Even though they don’t have the same commercial draw (as Mumford), acts like Mickey Hart, Ween, Widespread Panic and Trey Anastasio kind of blow this away,” Epstein said. “We’ve done bands that draw bigger — this is probably in the league of The Fray at their peak — although we don’t really know because this has been controlled. The band wanted a little bit more intimate of an experience.”