Florence and the Machine Everybody Scream Concert Review!
GUYS GUYS GUYS
I have so much to say (it's been a month since I started writing this whoops š)
SO I saw Florence Welch perform in Nashville for the second time. It's really only my third concert ever and it convinced me I need to go to more. She began began, of course, with "Everybody Scream" (ES), and it was just came on so strong and oh so good. It was literally everything you could hope for from an opening song at a concert. Having been in the venue for a couple hours at that point, the anticipation had built and built, so the release of that tension was the best feeling ever. You could really feel the achievement of being there, the culmination of months of waiting, when she started the call and response portion in the pre-chorus with "Everybody move!" The audience responded each time with screams and cheers, making the wild cries of the Witch Choir (WC) in that section come to life in real time. Florence Welch's very presence can invoke a Dionysian frenzy, but her power doesn't stop there; her control over her audience is equal to that over her stellar vocals. The effect of this song was such that we were held captive by her arrival throughout a flurry of excitementāpriming us just so for "Witch Dance" (WD).
This energy changed, of course, when the bridge to Witch Dance (or perhaps breakdown? The second half of WD is almost a completely different piece of music) began, and things began to slow down. The magic of the moment settled in. I'm sure any concertgoer would agree that one of the best parts of live music is listening for any differentiation from the recorded version. When she sang "And your threats and your promises, they don't scare me," she was stringent with every word, and I could hear just how much she meant it in a way that the album recording did not capture. There was no fear here, not in this place.
I decided I wouldn't look ahead at the set list so I could experience everything with as much surprise as possible. They played some of her most popular songs next, including "Shake It Out," "Cosmic Love," and a few others. The harpist delivered an absolutely incredible performance throughout theseāwhat a wonder to hear that heavenly instrument live on this scale of attendance!āand later played a solo interlude I could have listened to for hours. I was hoping that Florence would perform at least one song with harp from Ceremonials, and I feel so lucky to have seen her do so more than once!
That album is at the top for me. At one point when I wondered what song they would play next, every light turned red, shooting up to the sky, and they launched into "Seven Devils" (SD). It was an unexpected part of the set and it was thrilling to watch it fit into the spooky set (it is a personal favorite of mine). However, the real thrill came when she began "Spectrum." Y'all...
"Spectrum" is so laden with musicalityāthe intro is heavy with anticipation, and feeling that (just for one song!) alongside hundreds of other people puts you on another level of wonder. It is so grounded in feeling that when she lifts her voice to sing, "Say my name" the first time, gently, it is almost shocking to realize you have begun to float inches above the floor. Naturally, you shoot very high into the sky when she shoots off into the chorus with a voice that could peel paint off walls, and with how well-balanced the sound system was in this arena, it became an experience impossible to walk away from unchanged. This is how you set your audience up for an emotional breakdown. Immerse them in that higher power that makes good music great. Take them high, ready to swoop low with them the next minute, but never let me go, never let me go.
She introduced "Buckle" with the background she's been talking about along this tour, with her explanation about how "I'm too old to be writing about not getting a text back." With this performance, it went from my least favorite song on the album to on par with "Kraken" (which was performed later and OH SO FUN!). I'm not so much a fan of acoustic guitar music but hearing "Buckle" live just changed something! I love that my experience reflected a core theme of this album: accepting change.
Then, of course, we had "Music by Men." This one always hurts the most to listen to because of how much it resonates with me personally. So much of Florence's music resonates for different reasons, one major one being powerful musicality in general, but this song hits with its lyrics. Standing there in an arena full of people made it so real and it was the most impactful for me out of any other song performed. Memories of damage and persistence that "Music by Men" evokes is unparalleled. I've heard it said that her songs either pull you to the core of the Earth or raise you up to heaven itself, but no other song, sung right to your face, brings you forward to the present moment with all the weight of every issue within a current relationship.
Sorry for all the prepositions. You guys get it.
Guys, when Florence started talking about how the next song she'd be singing was the most difficult, you could probably have powered several generators from the energy emanating from me at that moment, I was so excited. "You Can Have It All" is my favorite song from this album and gives her other most powerful pieces like "Cosmic Love" or "Over the Love" a run for their money. Although I understood what I'd heard about the challengeāphysically and emotionallyāthat prevents her from performing it on every stop of the tour, I was prepared to walk away just a little disappointed if I didn't get to hear it. That she decided to sing it for us was nothing short of the greatest gift. Like hearing "You Can Have It All" for the very first time from a set of speakers, experiencing this song live was everything you would expect and more. The swell of the music, beginning with a scale played on a harp, serves to bring you into a contemplative world. Slowly and brightly, you feel a a sense of awe for this incredible woman whose power lies not only in beauty of voice but also in her vulnerability. The strength of her voice, demanding rather than asking, "Am I a womanānow?" at the end was just everything to me. This performance emphasized the statement Florence is making about self-determined womanhood. It also dares anyone to question what she has made herself into because of what she been through.
She ended the (first part of) the concert with "Sympathy Magic." Y'all, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't knocked flat on my back by "Sympathy Magic" because of the way she used it. Wow. Truly, though I enjoy this song, it doesn't pack and emotional punch quite as much as the others on the album. The feral joy and lightheartedness was wonderful to experience at what I thought might be the end of the show. However, seeing the way she used it to wrap up the concert and leave you wanting more was what made the song take on a whole new meaning to me. If you've not seen audience members' videos of her during those moments, I'll summarize; she finished and slowly let the music play out, going from person to person all along the front row, gently singing:
What else? What else? What else!
I finally understood what this song is saying. After everything you go through, at the end of everything you've made, there is a story still waiting to be writtenāwe must not simply be ready for it, but go into the world, arms open, ready to embrace whatever comes next.
And of courseāthe encore!! I totally forgot how those work lol. She started with "One of the Greats" (I was SO looking forward to this and so happy she didn't skip it), AND "DOG DAYS" WOWOWOWOWOW. She made one of her iconic no-phones-enjoy-the-moment-as-one-big-audience speech beforehand (and of course, everyone notice the one person remaining with a phone light on, but the rest of us were vibing).
She also performed a couple songs from Dance Fever ("King," "Free," and "DAFFODIL" HOLY SHIT) which was awesome because I saw her perform these the first time I witnessed her live in Nashville a few years ago, and it was such a treat to get to experience the joy and frenzy contained in the Dance Fever album once more.
Lastly, she finished the concert with "And Love"...and when she repeated the end with "peace is coming"...it was as if you could feel the whole room swaying together. That the concert began and ended with the order of songs it was released ināwhile containing performances from her past creationsāsays to me that the album is representative of the cyclical motions we go through in the process of creation. She's spoken about the creative process so much and this was my takeaway. Repeating those final words about peace to come also felt so hopeful, poignant, and in tune with the greater moment of the world right now; I believe that was wholly intentional. This whole show is what I (and a lot of American fans) needed, considering her specific comments about access to reproductive healthcare just before singing "You Can Have It All" about it being the reason she is alive to perform itā! I think she definitely wanted to convey that subtle-not-so-subtle messaging at the end as part of the performance. It was deeply personal and I would say in spite of that, it made me feel more connected to everyone and reassured, as the lyrics and overall performance was meant to do, but I'm actually inclined to say that it's because of her individual experience that inspired "And Love" that it inspired a feeling of communal love.
Altogether, it was an amazing night. 10/10 would do it again and again.
Photo credit: @livdotjpeg (wow!!)
