Mumford and Sons Rock Troy Ohio Three-Day Music Festival

By Greg Enslen


The popular British folk band Mumford & Sons headlined the three-day Gentlemen of the Road Stopover outdoor music festival this past weekend in Troy, Ohio. The Grammy Award-winning band took the stage at 8:30pm Saturday night in front of a crowd of 40,000 fans.


The main stage, located at the Troy Memorial Stadium on the football field, hosted performances by a variety of national folk, rock and bluegrass acts, including Mumford & Sons, Old Crow Medicine Show, The Vaccines, Those Darlins, Bear's Den, Rubblebucket and Justin Townes Earle.


Two smaller stages located in Troy's central square and fountain hosted smaller and local bands, including Floodwood, Henhouse Prowlers, Jeff Austin and the Here and Now, Rum River Band, Higgins-Madewell, Here Comes the Sun Stereo, Red Wanting Blue, and Seventh Street Band. Some bands put on multiple performances over the course of the three-day festival.


Rain and dark clouds threatened portions of the outdoor festival Sunday but only light sprinkles marred the festivities. A light rain fell on the undeterred crowd during performance by Old Crow Medicine Show on the Stadium Main stage, and a few drops fell during a quiet number by Mumford & Sons.


The festival was located in two separate areas — Troy Memorial Stadium and a downtown street fair — with the bridge separating the two distinct zones. Open containers and public drinking were allowed in the downtown street zone and in the Memorial Stadium festival area but was forbidden on the bridge connecting to the two, making for several "chug that drink" zones where festival-goers gathered around trashcans near the exits to finish their drinks before exiting out onto the "public" areas.


The roundabout, usually filled with cars, was packed with visitors from near and far and tents selling beer, burritos, walking tacos, pizza by the slice and the staple of any festival, funnel cakes.


Area grassy areas were turned into temporary campgrounds for hundreds of colorful tents, creating a festival atmosphere along the banks of the Great Miami River.


Festival personnel told local press that there were no alcohol or drug-related injuries or any violence, according to local Dayton affiliate ABC22. Several people were taken to area hospitals after falls and accidents, and 50 festival-goers were treated for heat exhaustion in the three-day run-up to the show finale.