Live Review: The Lumineers – 24th May 2025 – O2 Arena, London, UK

It wasn’t 24 hours since we left the O2 that we were back at the venue on Saturday night for another show – this time, rather than the usual pop spectacles that we usually gravitate towards, it was a nice slice of American folk-rock as Wesley Schultz and Jeremiah Fraites aka The Lumineers brought their latest tour – in support of recently released 5^th studio album, Automatic – to the world famous London venue.

The band released their new collection back in February and have been on the road ever since, promoting the record and playing new songs, as well as their very weighty back catalogue of catchy folk-seasoned pennings to fans around the world. It was London’s turn over the weekend and we were invited along to see the outfit deliver a meaty 29 song set.

Over the course of just shy of 2 hours, the energetic duo were joined by several touring band mates including Lauren Jacobson on violin and Stelth Ulvang, who provided the night with some incredible moves and occasionally ran the length of the stage barefoot while encouraging the crowd to sing along or get up on their feet and dance.

Opening the show with Same Old Song and a popular performance of Flowers in Your Hair, it was very clear right from the get-go that the bands return to the capital, and to the O2 Arena, was a warmly welcomed one as the crowd let out deafening applauses to their folk idols after almost every song delivered during the show.

The band have released 5 albums in their time with Schultz telling the crowd “This is the biggest show we’ve ever played here. It marks 20 years of me and Jeremiah making music together” before the pair performed a beautiful rendition of You’re All I Got; a tribute from the frontman to his suspender wearing musical comrade.

Most of those 5 albums were paid a visit during the bands impressive set. An end of set performance of Cleopatra was personalised with a Happy Birthday shoutout by Schultz to his wife who was in the audience at the show while the 1.5billion streamed Ophelia was an upbeat highlight which had Schultz and his eccentric piano playing bandmate run the length of the stage, throwing tambourines to each other with neither missing the others as the pony-tailed front man nailed the raspy, echoed vocal of the song.

Where We Are from 2022’s Brightside collection had the whole audience swaying their arms as they helped with backing vocals to the number while the album title track saw Schultz jump off the stage and walk through the depths of the crowd as fans recorded him from a very close proximity as the superstar walked casually through fans singing the song before heading up the steps of the side of the O2 Arena.

Dead Sea saw the singer take a moment to himself mid-song; evidently taken back from the roar of the crowd which only increased in volume when they saw him close to tears on the giant overhead screens while signature hit, Ho Hey was dished up not as the encore song but much earlier in the set. As soon as that recognisable beat (a recognizable beat the band have used to create many of the songs played in the nights set) reverberated within the venue, phones were held high in the air as fans sang along to the song which has surpassed 1.5billion streams on Spotify and become one of the most successful songs in streaming history.

The stage for the band was a constant moving part as crew would rush on to place microphone stands in different areas on the giant arrow shaped stage that extended into the floor section of the crowd, or a space in the stage that would open to allow Fraites drum kit or a grand white piano to be raised for various performances.

Within all the hustle and bustle of the show and the non-stop numbers that the band were churning out, one of the highlights of the night came with their lengthy performance of Big Parade. Here the backing band were placed in the spotlight as Schultz passed verses off to each of his bandmates while their eccentric barefoot drummer was gifted with one of the biggest applauses of the night as he did a handstand atop his piano.

We went into the Lumineers show on Saturday not being the most familiar with the band’s repertoire and while we here at Renowned for Sound have seen the band in the past, this was my very first Lumineers show. From the first handful of songs performed, I was quickly sold on their perfectly executed, folk-dressed, vocally rich, instrumentally engaging brand of storytelling. A fun night indeed!

Setlist:
Same Old Song
Flowers in Your Hair
Angela
You’re All I Got
AM Radio
Asshole
Charlie Boy (with Michael Marcagi)
Plasticine
Donna
Ho Hey
Don’t Look Back In Anger (Oasis cover)
Dead Sea
Brightside
Sleep on the Floor
Gloria
Gun Song
Ativan
Where We Are
Slow It Down
Strings
Automatic
Ophelia
Big Parade
Leader of the Landslide
April
Salt and the Sea
Reprise
Cleopatra
Stubborn Love

Brendon Veevers

::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.