Goddess Florence + The Machine returned to Brisbane yesterday to headline the much-loved A Day On The Green at the spectacular Sirromet Winery at Mount Cotton.
Warming us all up for Florence was not only the sweltering heat wave Brisbane was currently experiencing, but also local favourites HATCHIE, Last Dinosaurs and King Princess.
A quick reset of the stage saw a crisp white altar laid out with silver towering candelabras draped in white fabric which set the tone that Florence was going to cool down our scorching day. The lights dimmed and once the Machines hit the stage readying their instruments, Florence arrived on tiny footsteps and appeared to be almost floating with a long flowing copper mane and adorned in one of her signature sheer timeless gowns.
The English songstress is a picture of femininity with porcelain-like milky skin and her delicate gestures. She began fierce with arms outstretched, head bowed and unsmiling, and led straight into ‘Heaven is Here’ as she punched the air in blows with the drums. ‘King’ followed from the album of the tour name ‘Dance Fever’ and a crowd favourite ‘Ship To Wreck’ where Florence jumped around while flick-kicking and gave the crowd big arm wind-ups in gestures to join in with her.
The energy from the stage was palpable and the crowd was glued to the enchanting goddess siren in her satin and chiffon. She addresses the crowd and was so in awe of the energy of the audience at a wine festival and announced that in her 9 years of sobriety, she will gain her vibe only from the audience. 'The Dog Days Are Over’ rang out and her delicate fingers played air piano with every voice in the crowd singing along.
At every Florence + The Machine show, there is a ritual that begins with Florence asking who is attending for the first time and who is returning. She explains how she wants us all to be in the moment, together experiencing the night as one. Not for us capturing content to post about later. She says that that is not what a Florence + The Machine show is about. She ever so politely asked us all to put our phones away and prompted us to call out also politely to any fellow audience members who need to be reminded to put their phones away. She joked about saying it ever so politely and not like how they would say it where she is from in South London laughing while saying “ Put our f**king phone away!”
Florence loved to get up close and personal with her fans and tonight she did not disappoint making her way along the barrier touching forehead to forehead, embracing, and staring lovingly into the eyes of each adoring subject before her. It’s hard not to be mesmerised by this woman of such strength through her vulnerability. Her energy emanated out of her as she stood tall against the barrier gripping one fan's hand solidly for support as she belts out such a soulful ‘Dream Girl Evil’ to a spellbound crowd.
Back on the main stage and dropped to her knees to start ‘What Kind Of Man’ then launched up onto her feet and swirled and spun like a music box ballerina to ‘June’ ‘Hunger’ and ‘You Got The Love’. She ran the length of the stage with her voice booming and appeared to not even break a bead of sweat to her brow. She felt the music deep within her it as she used her hands like a conductor in front of an orchestra with each floating note. She had the crowd en masse squat down ready to jump up and dance on the drop in ‘My Love’ and the crowd collectively chanted “ONE MORE SONG” “ONE MORE SONG”.
A very appreciative and beaming Florence thanked everyone so much for the encore and said “Ummm, we actually, ahhh, we haven’t played this song on a Florence + The Machine tour in 10 years. Umm, because" she chuckled "I just decided it was too sad and I was never going to sing it again” she said. She explained that during COVID she promised if the world opened to concerts again she would play it before asking for help to sing this really hard and scary song. Which she revealed had been written whilst she was exceptionally hung over.
‘Never Let Me Go’ began and her haunting delivery had us holding our breath and back tears as she effortlessly built to the chorus while she swayed her arms delicately left and right to encourage us to sing 'never let me go, never let me go'. She gathered strength and built up to the lyrics 'and the arms of the ocean are carrying me, and all of this devotion was rushing out of me, and the crashes are heaven for a sinner like me, but the arms of the ocean delivered me'. The crowd was visibly moved and once we collected ourselves, we were straight into ‘Shake It Out’.
We knew all good things must come to an end and for the final song for the evening 'Rabbit Heart' people were jumping on each other's shoulders as the song suggested raising it up. Then just as magnificently as she arrived she was gone and we were left with the feeling of having just encountered a mystical and somehow celestial experience that would stay with us forever.