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Manchester Evening News

Entertainment

Liv Clarke

Review: Florence + The Machine rules the stage at AO Arena

Florence Welch AO Arena Manchester Florence + Machine

“Shoes are very new for me, but I certainly can’t be tripping over my shoelaces right now,” Florence Welch tells the crowd as she bends town to tie the laces on her black leather ballet-style pumps. They don’t really go with her bohemian style, but it’s a necessity after she broke her foot while on tour in November last year, delaying her Dance Fever tour while she recovered.

Despite the rescheduled show, fans still flooded the AO Arena in Manchester on Friday night for Florence + The and it was worth the wait. As Florence said herself: “Manchester on a Friday night - this is going to be so fun.”

Before the band takes to the stage the arena is lit up in a bright, white light as a series of chandeliers descend down to the stage, framed by a giant rectangle. At the back are candelabras, creating an altar before which Florence elegantly moves, despite the shoes on her feet.

Heaven Is Here opens up the show, followed by King, Florence appearing as some sort of high priestess as she sings “I am not mother, I am no bride, I am king” in a white, flowing dress with yellow thrills. The crowd finally begins to loosen up to Ship To Wreck, the first of the upbeat songs to be played.

Florence + The Machine at AO Arena (Manchester Evening News)

Free keeps the energy up as Florence jumps all around the stage, feeding off the crowd. Although grungy Daffodil proved less popular and the change in pace did feel a little abrupt.

Dance Fever is an album born from the pandemic and the concept behind it is 'choreomania' - a phenomenon where people dance to the point of exhaustion. Florence herself describes her music as a way to move through the broken parts of her life, and in this case, it help us to dance our way through the troubled times we’ve been through.

It’s easy to liken her performance to a religious experience and it’s clear for some fans that it verges on it. “Is it a cult? Am I safe?” Florence jokes as she addresses those who are new to her shows. “It’s really so much better if you just give into it, do everything I say and you’ll be absolutely fine.”

Florence and the Machine Dance Fever UK Tour (Lillie Eiger)

Everyone definitely gave in with Dog Days Are Over, while during Dream Girl Evil she walks up to the barrier as people reach out to touch her. The stage is transformed again for Big God as sheer black curtains surround her dance floor, so Florence is silhouetted behind them, like a ghost.

What Kind of Man sees a return to the rocky, upbeat energy of her more recent songs, while Morning Elvis is a “prayer that we would make it through something”, written during the pandemic. During Choreamania the singer descends from the stage once more, and this time does a tour through the crowd, fans reaching out for her as she passes by.

When the band returned to the stage for the encore, Florence said that they had been reminiscing about performing at the Deaf Institute in around 2006. “It was a good time, that gig was such a big deal and I think we went back to some student halls afterwards,” she said with an air of mischief.

She then went on to perform a moving rendition of Never Let Me Go, a song she hasn’t sung in 10 years, as the crowd were bathed in blue light, a sea of people before her. She permitted everyone to dance once more with Shake It Off, before demanding “ human sacrificers” to be made and instructed fans to raise people on their shoulders.

“We won’t go hungry tonight” she said, truly taking on the role of cult leader, as everyone leapt up and down to Rabbit Heart. At the end she coronated herself with a golden crown from the crowd, taking her rightful place as Queen (or should that be King?) on the stage.