The Lumineers are on their way to Shanghai

Technically, I’m in Shanghai right now, but not in in Shanghai. I’m on holiday! In Shanghai. Temporarily. Just paying my rent and doing some laundry and hopefully will be out of Shanghai again really soon.

Anyway, while here I was pretty psyched to read that The Lumineers will be playing Shanghai and Beijing in February. They hail from my hometown of Denver, CO, so I’m especially excited. Their first album is amazing (so much so that I already wrote about it here) and right now, they’re hitting all my sweet spots in their folksy, Americana way. They’ve become really big since I’ve been out of the States so I’ve never seen them live, but I’ve heard that they’re one of these bands who know their stuff, musically-speaking, so what you get on the album is what you get in person (unlike, say, No Doubt. I will never forget how awful you were live, No Doubt. Never.). And it’s gonna be cool to see a Colorado band here. Maybe the two other Coloradans who live in Shanghai might also be repping at this show. We all like to get together sometimes and talk about micro-brews and skiing and how South Park doesn’t represent what people from Colorado are like AT ALL (it totally doesn’t, you guys!)(okay, it does).

I feel like The Lumineers get a lot of comparisons to Mumford & Sons, which is legit, because they’re both in a similar genre, though The Lumineers are more stripped down, I think. And to be honest, sometimes I think they’re verging on the edge of too much image, what with their prohibition-era fedoras and prairie sundresses and hey look! I have a mandolin and suspenders and saddle shoes. It’s weird to think a folk band can have too much image but there you go. Where is that line between image and ridiculousness? But I think they’ll have the folksy chops to back it up.

Here’s “Hey Ho” off of their debut album, The Lumineers (2012):

Simply, slightly rustic, catchy and an incredibly good drunk singalong song. Exactly what we love in Colo.

They’ll be playing Mao Livehouse in Shanghai on Monday, Feb 10, 2014 and Tango 3rd Floor in Beijing on Feb 11. Tickets here.