Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine performs at Auckland's Spark Arena. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine performs at Auckland's Spark Arena. Photo / Jason Oxenham
REVIEW
“It’s f***ing great, welcome to the show.”
A dream-like Florence + The Machine enchanted a packed-out Spark Arena last night, wooing the audience with angelic lyrics and hypnotising vocals.
Leading lady Florence Welch gave nothing but goddess vibes when she hit the Auckland stage, even sneaking out for a surprise duet with warm-up act King Princess.
Around 7.30pm, as the crowd filled out the seats, American singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist King Princess, real name Mikaela Mullaney, took to the stage.
Playing a delicate mix of her popular hits Talia and 1950, as well as rockier tunes, by the end of her performance the artist had even the newest fans head banging along.
King Princess rocks out at Spark Arena. Photo / Chontalle Mission
Welch started her performance with Heaven is Here, quickly backed up by Ship to Wreck, which brought everybody to their feet.
Between bouts of thundering drums the folk-rock queen ran barefoot from edge to edge of the stage and at times even into the crowd, submersing herself into the edge of the mosh pit.
Last night she said she and her Machine were going to give their everything, and to those who had never attended one of their concerts, she reassured, would be “absolutely fine”.
“Is it a cult, am I safe? All I can say is if you’re out there and feeling a little apprehensive... [it will be] better if you give in.”
Fans at the Florence + the Machine concert at Auckland's Spark Arena.
Photo / Jason Oxenham.
Returning to New Zealand for the first time since they headlined Laneway in 2019, Welch wasted no time telling the audience how it was going to be.
A few songs into the gig she hushed the arena with soft and then later firm words, ordering the audience to put mobiles away.
“Or, if you want to use some South London phrasing, where I’m from, put your f***ing phone away.”
The performance was the final show of their global Dance Fever Tour, a celebration of the release of their fifth studio album.
“And because this is the last one I want you to give me f***ing everything that you got,” she rallied fans near the end of their set.
Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine wowed the audience with her angelic voice. Photo / Jason Oxenham.
Produced by Welch, Jack Antonoff and Dave Bayley, Dance Fever was recorded entirely in London and channels everything Welch missed the most in lockdown - dancing wildly, epic multi-day music festivals and the thrill of reunions with friends.
During Morning Elvis, a song Welch said she wrote in this time when she wondered if live shows would ever return, she led the crowd as they waved their arms to the rhythm.
In a final encore, after a few minutes of pretending they were done, the band emerged back on stage to the raucous applause of the whole arena.
Thanking fans during an emotional interlude, Welch said the crowd had been “just so wonderful”.
“I think it’s a Tuesday, so I’m just really blown away.”
Speaking candidly, she told us the song they were about to perform hadn’t been done on a Florence + The Machine tour in 10 years.
“I said to myself if shows ever come back, I will sing this song again.
“I’ve had a lot of time to think about what it means to me, about what songwriting means and basically what it has done for me, is anything that I thought was too sad or too broken, too shameful, if I put it in a song, even if I then thought that the song was too sad to sing, what you do is you kept it safe for me and you loved it until I was ready to sing it again.”
