Florence + The Machine, Edinburgh review: 'superstar magnetism'
From moments of humour to moments of raw, personal confession, this concert was an emotional rollercoaster, writes David Pollock
Florence + The Machine, Royal Highland Showground, Edinburgh ★★★★
“This one’s for the ladies,” runs a line in One of the Greats, the second single from last year’s sixth Florence + the Machine album Everybody Scream. “Do I drive you crazy?” It appears Florence Welch certainly does, because the collective female-voiced scream which went up when she sang it here was positively cathartic.
Surfing on a growling, unsettled guitar line, the song rails against the expectations the music industry places upon older women; Welch celebrates her 40th birthday this week. Reannouncing her as a kind of South London Patti Smith, it was dedicated to support act Self Esteem, whom Welch said had been helpful during its making.
Breaking ground at this gig with Everybody Scream’s thundering glam riff, she and her band moved into Shake It Out, a therapeutic demand to cast off old hurt. Then came the spooky, scratchy violins of Which Witch, the big gothic anthemics of Spectrum (Say My Name), and Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up), for which she demanded sacrificial “offerings” were raised up on one another’s shoulders. Candi Staton’s You Got the Love is a homely indie rocker in Welch’s version, but the original still shone through.
There were moments of raw personal confession as in Hunger, about her experience of anorexia; moments of empowerment, like the affirmatory King; and moments of humour, as in her introduction to Buckle, where she pondered whether she’s “too old to be writing songs about people not texting me back any more”.
There was also the most gorgeous moment of fan connection, as she walked the front row singing Sympathy Magic’s “come on, give me everything you've got, what else?” coda directly into the ears of sobbing, hugging devotees without musical accompaniment.
Between that and Welch’s heeded demand that all phones be turned off as Dog Days Are Over powered to a close (“filming this song will stop you from experiencing this song… and is that not why you came?”), it felt clear we’d been watching a concert by an artist with a special kind of superstar magnetism.
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