Florence and The Machine @Enmore Theatre, Sydney(5/08/10)

Mon 9th Aug, 2010 in Gig Reviews

Florence just seems to get bigger, better and louder every time she hits the stage. You can almost hear the walls of the classic venue trembling as Welch starts belting out the chorus to her opening war-cry, Drumming Song.

As a vocalist, Florence is (obviously) top-notch, but as a performer she’s something else entirely. Animated doesn’t even begin to describe it; despite the fact that she’s got some of the most awkwardly long limbs in the business. Florence dances without abandon, throwing herself spasmodically about the stage with complete disregard for anyone except her fans. It’s a good thing the room is stuffed full of them, screaming every word to every track, including the only recently released cut off the Twilight soundtrack. If she was the flavour of the month when she came for Laneway in January, Welch is now the musical Masterchef of the Year.

Welch’s band, you know, the actual Machine, are nothing to be sneezed at. Special mention needs to go to her drummer who manages to craft dramatic space between walls of toms without sounding like he wants to be Phil Collins and the very lucky (or very unfortunate, depending on how you look at the instrument) male harpist who is responsible for maintaining the Midsummer Night’s Dream aesthetic that defined Lungs.

The best songs are, by and large, the ones that aren’t the singles. That’s a tough call because at last count, the woman had released six of them, but the aforementioned Hurricane Drunk is phenomenal, as is the sadistic operetta of Girl With One Eye. Indeed, it’s these kind of songs that make you realise that amongst all the Love she Got and Dog Days behind her, Florence is still a young girl with a lot of pent up anger that she loves releasing in song.

The way in which she embraces My Boy Builds Coffins, easily one of the most macabre things she’s released, highlights this fact. But whether she’s singing about death, maiming, burial, wild horses or other phenomena, it’s Florence’s passion that shines through. She’s as brilliant as everyone has said she is, and then some. She’s remarkably humble, adores her fans and doesn’t believe in saving her high notes for the next night.

It’s a shame that her version of You Got The Love gets such a rapturous response, because it’s really not what she’s about at all. The real Florence that we all fell in love with what seems like a lifetime ago is on show in the encore, when she gets down and dirty with the punk-rock glory of Kiss With A Fist. Between that and the punctuated screams that she’s been offering throughout the swooning dark romance of the evening, you know where Welch’s heart lies. It’s the same thing that had her rushing out from her Splendour set to dance like a maniac side of stage for The Strokes’ set.

This tour is subtitled ‘Cosmic Love’, and the song of the same name is bombastic enough to belong to Muse. It’s painfully obvious that the ethereal Florence is a fireball, and she just keeps getting hotter. So join in the flames or stay the hell out of her way.

Check out the photos from the show