But this isn't Mumford & Sons & a bunch of support bands. Take for the example the Friday night headliner Mumford is chuckling about right now.
"The Foo Fighters melted everyone's faces last night," he says before waxing lyrical about the other acts they've managed to gather. The band have given themselves a few hard acts to follow - the band on before them that night was the Flaming Lips.
The Mumfords have been putting on Gentlemen of the Road gigs since 2012 in everywhere from Dungog Australia to the outer reaches of Scotland and Ireland. It's not a particularly profitable exercise for anyone involved he says. So why do it?
"Because we can. It's unbelievable right? We get to write a letter to the Foo Fighters and say 'we are doing a festival in the middle of f***king nowhere. Do you want and come play?' And they say yes.
"If you like music and you are music fan it's a dream to be able to ask people to come play and put together your own line-up ... it's very much more than a Mumford & Sons headline show."
And though the band has played many major festivals around the world, their own on has a few notable differences. "There is no corporate branding. There is no sponsorship. It feels very independent. It feels very fan friendly, very band friendly. No one really makes any money. It's obviously not about that. It's just fun man."
So the bad news. The band's forthcoming second visit to New Zealand isn't to be a festival but another stadium gig. "We hope to do one in New Zealand soon but now we are just trying to get there as soon as possible."
Well, the last time Mumford was here, he, actress wife Carey Mulligan and band were guests at that year's music awards. That must have made him feel like he'd really made it ... .
"Ha ha ha, well you know we obviously live our lives for awards ceremonies. That was a bizarre time being there for that. But it was cool."
The band heads here after the recent release of third album Wilder Mind, an album that saw them largely ditch the puffin' billy banjos and acoustic guitars and skiffle rhythms of the previous albums to add electric guitars and rock dynamics. On songs like The Wolf sounded like they were applying for the position left vacant by Kings of Leon while the title track had them sounding close to Springsteen territory.
So, excuse the folk-rock in-joke, but has anyone at a show shouted "Judas" when Mumford has strapped on an electric Telecaster to play the new songs?
"I am not sure it is shocking as it was then," replies Mumford about the infamous Dylan folk-sellout heckle. "People seem to be getting behind it. We're playing all the old songs as well. We just have a new bunch to show people. And when you are headlining festivals you are playing for f***ing two hours at least. You need to have more than two records really."
The other thing with electric guitars is that they require less effort than all that banjo plucking and acoustic strumming and Mumford's one-man band trick which has him singing, playing guitar and kicking a bass drum. "Yeah still doing that. It keeps me busy and it keeps me vaguely fit. But there's more space in the new songs. It's a little less frantic, which means you can pace yourself over a two-hour set, which is cool.
"We were headlining our first couple of festivals with one record and by the time you've got to three if just feels like such a luxury."
An intriguing thing about Mumford & Sons' rise is how they've been embraced by rock's old guard - they played with Dylan at the 2011 Grammy Awards.
Two years later second album Babel won the album of the year Grammy. They've played on stage alongside Springsteen and Led Zeppelin Robert Plant declared his love for the group.
"It's pretty mind blowing when Robert Plant tells you you are carrying some sort of flag. With people like Neil Young, Springsteen, Dylan Robert Plant - those guys are our all-time heroes and we are lucky that they are still performing really f****ing well and that we've got to play with those guys and be around them and learn from them too.
"It's long career arcs that we want to try and emulate. Not necessarily the size and not necessarily the style but the attitude behind a career that spans decades like that and still having the time to take time out to stand with younger bands. That is how we want to be.
But aren't young bands meant to replace the old acts?
"I think it would me more punk and much cooler to separate ourselves from every other band and say that we are the only ones that we are doing what we are doing and f*** the rest of the world.
"But we are not like that as people. So it would be disingenuous. I don't know whether it is one of our flaws but we always do what we want to do and say what we want to say. And if people have opinions on our stuff I don't really give a f***.
"We are not swaggering and we are not going to put on any kind of pretence ...maybe we have suffered from that at times when people put us in certain boxes that we might not want to be put it.
But it's our duty to get out of those boxes and release the records we want to release."
"I just like playing music, man. I am not very good at talking to people about it. I am not very good at having my photo taken. But I f***king love playing music and that is all this is about."
Who: Marcus Mumford of Mumford & Sons
Where and when: Vector Arena November 10
Tickets: On general sale tomorrow
- TimeOut
