Went to see Florence + The Machine on Sunday. Absolutely wonderful. Every time I see her I come away feeling slightly different. Totally different from the two times I’ve seen her at Glastonbury. Here’s a review that I wrote for Spoonfed:
Florence + The Machine… seems to be the name on everyone’s lips. Blasting onto the mainstream music scene this year, Florence Welch has been continually mentioned across all media platforms in the run-up to the Mercury Prize, for which she unfortunately missed out to Speech Debelle. Simply put, I’m a big fan of the Florence machine. After seeing her two years ago at Glastonbury and wincing slightly throughout her set (it was LOUD, I was hungover), I then heard a couple of stripped down demos which pricked up my ears. This year, back at Glastonbury, her production was a little slicker, better organised, and her desire to create bold, cataclysmic music even greater.
London-based The XX get a well-packed Shepherd’s Bush Empire paying heed during their own set that sees the quiet, meek band spilling out their beautiful electronic soul sounds. Painfully shy, with little audience reaction, their soothing subdued bass compliments a mixture of male and female vocals, equally melancholic in delivery. The XX have come a long way for a band that met at nursery school, much alike their headlining act, who was discovered in a club toilet.
Florence’s music is hard to define – sometimes brash and loud, with other tracks poetic in their lyrical content and delivery. A huge strength is Florence’s ability to convey emotion in her own kooky way, whether that be in the sparkling track ‘Cosmic Love’ (‘No dawn, no day, I’m always in this twilight / In the shadow of your heart’) or the epic rumbling of ‘Drumming Song’. Her style fluidly slides from delicate fragility, wistfully twisting wrists, to the bold empowerment of femininity, her statuesque figure howling out at the sky. Florence’s appearance is harsh at times, standing tall in a bellowing cape, tussled hair and yet, like her music, her demeanour alters at the end of each song. Giddy and perhaps a little overwhelmed, it’s refreshing to see her down to earth and girlish attitude break through her tough performing exterior.
Despite concerns that Florence’s performances often waver given her nervous state and sometimes lead her to look like she’s over-thinking things, tonight’s performance is stellar. Tracks such as ‘Howl’ are high-energy, with the audience lending their own caterwauling vocals throughout. Softer numbers like ‘Between Two Lungs’ are delivered gracefully, even hauntingly, a talent that Florence seems to have mastered.
After forging an electric atmosphere, it wouldn’t be right if she didn’t finish the night with her cover of Candi Staton’s ‘You Got The Love’, an almost obligatory closing crowd pleaser. If her current success is anything to go by, there’s no stopping this drumming machine…
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