Florence And The Machine, TheDrums @ Festival Hall,Melbourne (03/08/2010)

Fri 6th Aug, 2010 in Gig Reviews

The country may be enveloped in the excitable grip of election fever (well, maybe not), but for discerning Melburnian musos there was only one red head worth paying any attention to on Tuesday night with flighty, folk fairy Florence Welch rolling into town on the back of a Splendour in the Grass triumph. Supported by New York popsters The Drums and packing an extravagant stage show, The Machine put in a timeless, enduring performance that is screaming for the added material of another album.

True to their name, The Drums kick things off with a thumping percussive number that belies the summery outlook of what you might have heard on the radio. In fact, their entire set lacks some of the more bouncy elements of their singles, instead sounding like an über-cool homage to 80’s Britain. The basslines are pointier and more pronounced, relegating the jangly guitar lines to the background, making for a more wintry sonic landscape.

The change in season results in a somewhat confused audience, unsure of what to make of these surprisingly dour, but admittedly much more intriguing entities before them. Lead singer Jonathan Pierce croons away like a young Morrissey and prances around the stage like Ian Curtis at Mardi Gras, thanking the audience profusely between songs before the band delves again into their Joy Division songbook.

Just as the pastiche begins to lose its appeal, along comes Let’s Go Surfing, bringing the sunshine back into the room and making a dancefloor, finally, of the Festival Hall boards. It’s disappointing that the songs trademark whistling effect is piped in rather than performed live, but with just the interval between this and the arrival of Flo, the songs brevity and energy are a welcome shot in the arm.

The raising of an enormous purple curtain over the stage receives as big a cheer as any song in The Drums set as a young and excitable audience recognises the imminent arrival of Ms. Welch to the stage. When the curtain finally drops to reveal the singer, resplendent in an ornate white dress thumping on a sole standing tom-tom, the noise from the crowd is deafening. Opening song Drumming builds from just a sparse vocal and single drum beat into a howling gale of percussion, chiming guitars and of course, the powerful bellow of a confident female at the height of her powers.

Startlingly pale before a shifting projected backdrop, Florence is static for all of one verse before taking flight, streaking tip-toe across the stage like a ghostly Kate Bush and sending the folk loving front row into raptures. Her music has always sounded like it belonged in a Bronte novel and set amongst a stage of gothic, candle-lit birdcages and chintzy, archaic furniture the songs come to life in brilliant, Tim Burton-esque visuals. My Boy Builds Coffins is next, shuffling and spidery, creeping into the consciousness slowly as eyes still try to take in the extravagant visage.

The brilliance of the set design coupled with Flo’s peerless vocal and a perfectly levelled band makes the whole thing a joy to watch, but in amongst the spectral costume and tribal, pagan drumming there are moments that are genuinely quite tense and eerie. Mid-set Blinding has Florence wrapped in an over-size ghostly veil, twisting in the breeze of upwardly blowing wind machine as the lights flash disorientating white and black to her harrowing, banshee wail. The performance is as transfixing as it is confronting, an ancient spiritual lament seemingly trapped in the modern.

Alongside the ethereal, haunting nature of the stage show, the live cover of Candi Staton’s You’ve Got The Love seems a little out of place and as a result is sluggish in comparison to its recorded version. Although still a great pop tune and rapturously received, it almost happily relinquishes the title of ‘set highlight’ to Dog Days Are Over that ends the night in the glaring glow of a thousand raised digital cameras.

To say that Florence’s voice is immaculate is barely a point worth making, although she does make us wait till the final chorus of Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up) to break out the song’s glorious falsetto. A new song that might be called Strangers and Charm? takes a slightly harder edge, sounding more rock than folk but still sticking to the winning formula with multi-layered drumming, twinkling accoutrement and highlighting that reverberating vocal. The best comes in the form of I’m Not Calling You A Liar however, backed only by a harp and prompting a venue wide sing along, the sweet and simple arrangement demonstrates just how far Florence and the Machine is ahead of the pack.

In a singer/songwriter genre positively packed with talent, from the likes of new bloods Imogen Heap and Laura Marling to the ever-presents Gemma Hayes and Beth Orton, Florence excels in her more intricately created persona that allows for such a brilliantly entertaining stage show. By means of demonstration, Girl With One Eye is the perfect live vessel for her multiple talents; sultry, powerful and soulful and much rawer than on record, it’s a flawless example of live brilliance from a girl that’s definitely going places.

Giggling and waving like an oversized Tinkerbell, Florence Welch sashays off stage left, leaving the audience in awe of a set that was as much a joy to watch as it was to hear.

CHECK OUT SOME OF THE BRILLIANT PHOTOS FROM THE NIGHT HERE