Concert Review: A Love Letter to My Emotional Rollercoaster with Florence + the Machine

Written by Eileen Bau

Photos courtesy of Lilie Eiger

Florence Welch took the stage in a pale peach affair, her dress billowing around her figure as she skipped downstage to begin the seventh show of Florence + the Machine’s High as Hope tour. The delicacy of Florence’s dress, however, belied the sheer strength that Florence stores in her powerhouse of a chest. The rest of the band was already onstage, armed with their keyboards, drums, guitars, and that unmistakable harp. The stage was decorated with slatted, tiered wooden structures placed strategically behind band members and pillowy white drapes hung from the stage rafters. The entire setup evoked the image of a pirate ship, complete with the band as the motley crew and Florence as the captain ready to whisk the crowd away on a wild voyage.

Meanwhile, I sat nervously in the upper level of the venue. I was very, very anxious for this show. Florence + the Machine is my favorite band and has been since approximately seventh grade (circa 2010) when  I first heard “Cosmic Love” in a fan-made YouTube lyric video. While I had heard that Florence + the Machine were amazing performers, I had a fear that the concert would not live up to my expectations and somehow decrease my love for the band.  
As the fantastic opening act (Kamasi Washington is a musical gift, and you can listen to his music here) wrapped up, I thought about how I was about to realize a dream I had had since I was 13.

For years, I had told people that the number one item on my bucket list was to see Florence + the Machine in concert. The band’s two albums, Lungs (2008) and Ceremonials (2011), were instant classics for me. I loved them at first listen, and to this day they rank high among my personal favorite albums of all-time. Although Lungs and Ceremonials are extremely different, they both ooze this big, surround-sound experience with well-structured, easy-to-listen-to choruses. Florence Welch’s thunderbolt of a voice and the visceral lyricism of the songs had me hooked. For years, I had imagined what it would be like to hear that voice in person — and Florence did not disappoint.

If you have never seen Florence + the Machine live, you are missing out on one of the greatest vocal performances around. With the killer combination of an expansive vocal range and massive lung capacity, Florence Welch hit and held notes that mere mortals like you and I could never dream of. Unlike other artists who I have seen live, Florence did not visibly or audibly demonstrate signs of vocal strain at any point in the evening. Live versions of her songs were arguably even better than the recorded versions because I don’t think there is recording technology capable of capturing the raw intensity of Florence’s voice. Her belting appears almost effortless as if drawn out from a sonic well deep within.

Throughout the evening, Florence + the Machine played a setlist ripe with variety from all four of their studio albums. I was awed at the ease with which they seamlessly transitioned. In comparison to their first two albums, their third album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful (2015), signaled a departure from the sensual, dark, and religious themes of Ceremonials and the lawless pagan landscape of Lungs.  It took a grittier, rockier edge with more stripped-back production and freeform songs that broke free of a cookie-cutter mold. I remember frantically tuning in to BBC Radio in the middle of day to catch the first broadcast of the lead single, “What Kind of Man,” during my senior of year of high school and being pleasantly surprised by the turn Florence + the Machine had taken.

During the show, “Cosmic Love” from Lungs flowed into “Delilah” from How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. While I would personally never make a playlist with that exact order of songs, the band made it work by adding these great little instrumental transitions.  Each song felt raw and vulnerable, and watching them live was intensely cathartic. Each and every moment in the show is charged, even if the band is not playing music. For one particular break, Florence,  sprinted offstage and ran a lap around the crowd while giggling — Tinkerbell style. She talked to the crowd during lulls in the set, asked us to hold hands with and hug a stranger and waded fearlessly into the front of the pit to be held up by fans (and security) during a song or two. It’s the peripheral actions like this that make a Florence + the Machine show so much more than simply listening to music — it’s a revelatory experience.

The evening ended with a two-song encore, “Big God” and “Shake It Out”. Both songs explore the idea of feeling too much and needing to expel the overflow somewhere — which is a fitting way to describe my Florence + the Machine concert experience. At the beginning of the concert, I was feeling bucketloads of apprehension, but it quickly became a burgeoning, full-body happiness and elation. I realized that my original fear of being let down by Florence + the Machine was ridiculous. Even for a casual fan, it is impossible to not become carried away by the outpouring of emotion and energy that Florence + the Machine generate onstage. This turnaround oddly mirrored my experience with Florence’s most recent record. The first time I heard High as Hope (2018), I did not like it. This immediately sent me into a minor identity crisis. Who was I if I stopped liking my favorite band? After a couple more listens-throughs though, I began to see the appeal. I had to learn how to love High as Hope because it was even more freeform than How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful — and also more brutally honest. It was softer and sadder in a way that wistfully reflected how much more mature of an artist and person Florence Welch has become. I was expecting the wild, flame-haired siren of Lungs. Instead, I got a very real person who didn’t shy away from the ugly sides of reality.

This groundedness that Florence has became one of my favorite parts of the album. It was also what contributed to my favorite moment of the show. When Florence introduced “Patricia,” a song written in tribute to Patti Smith, she used that earnestness to impart a few words of wisdom, perhaps revealing some of the motivation behind the High as Hope album title. “A revolution in consciousness starts with you,” she says beatifically. “Hope is an action, so keep doing the good you can on a day-to-day basis.”