Tour Scrapbook – Stage 1, Spring 2015.

The Dome, Tufnell Park, London, Wednesday 4th March 2015

What Kind Of Man

Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)

What The Water Gave Me

Breaking Down

How Big How Blue How Beautiful

All This And Heaven Too

Only If For A Night

Drumming Song

Shake It Out

Dog Days Are Over

St Jude

Third Eye

No Light, No Light

Florence + The Machine debut three new

songs at intimate London show The band played Tufnell Park Dome and premiered material from their forthcoming third album

Florence + The Machine debuted three brand new songs at a special show at London's Tufnell Park Dome earlier this evening (March 4).

The band played their first show of 2015 at the north London venue, using the event to premiere a number of tracks from forthcoming third album 'How Big How Blue How Beautiful', including the LP's title track, 'St Jude' and 'Third Eye'. Current single 'What Kind Of Man' opened the set, which began at 9pm. Taking to the stage in a blue satin suit over a sheer white blouse, frontwoman Florence Welch launched into 'What Kind Of Man', headbanging in time with music and crouching down on her knees and pushing her own face into the faces of fans in the front row, much to their delight. Backed by an 11 piece band, which included a harpist, horn players and backing vocalists, the energetic show spanned Welch's musical career. "It's really incredible to be here, thank you," commented Welch before performing 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful'. "This next song was recorded in LA on that day I got you [gesturing to collaborator Isabella Summers] that outfit and we dressed up as Prince. It was the first song that was written for 'How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful' and it means a lot to me. It's incredible to be able to play it for you for the first time." The uptempo song itself started out slow and in typical Florence fashion built up into an explosive chorus, backed by a driving rhythm. It featured the lyric "What are we going to do?/We've opened the door and now it's all coming true." The song finished with the musical break already premiered in the album's teaser video - which you can see below - with Welch recreating the video's dance moves onstage. The comparatively low key 'St Jude' made for perhaps the most downplayed song of Welch's entire catalogue, and featured the lyrics: "St Jude the patron saint of lost causes/We were lost before she started." Introducing the song, Welch thanked the new LP's producer, Markus Dravs. "This one was especially championed by Markus Dravs who produced the record and is in the audience tonight," she said. "He lent me a lot of jumpers and made sure I had lights on my bike and generally looked after me. During that year a lot of storms followed me around, real ones and emotional ones, and this is about that." It was followed by the Motown-leaning 'Third Eye', of which Welch commented: "This next song was written I thought for someone else, but I think it might have been for me, if you know what I mean." The track's rousing chorus centred around the lyric "There's a hole where your heart lies/I can see it with my third eye." The show was attended by ticket ballot-winning fans as well as The Kills, The xx, Klaxons, Dan from Bastille, Radio 1 DJ Nick Grimshaw, model Daisy Lowe and actress Sadie Frost.

The Masonic, San Francisco,, Thursday 9th April 2015

What The Water Gave Me

What Kind Of Man

Spectrum

Sweet Nothing

How Big How Blue How Beautiful

Swimming (snippet)

All This And Heaven Too

Drumming Song

Ship To Wreck

Only If For A Night

Shake It Out

Dog Days Are Over

St Jude

Third Eye

No Light, No Light

Coachella Valley Festival, Empire Polo Grounds, Indio,, Sunday 12th April 2015

What The Water Gave Me

What Kind Of Man

Spectrum

Sweet Nothing

How Big How Blue How Beautiful

All This And Heaven Too

Drumming Song

Ship To Wreck

Shake It Out

Dog Days Are Over

Coachella 2015: Florence + the Machine owns Sunday night

Florence + the Machine performs at Coachella.

By August Brown

April 13, 2015, 8:22 p.m.

Every year, there’s always a Coachella overachiever. It’s usually a small act in a midday tent, or a late-night session that unexpectedly convinces crowds to stay to the end.

This year, it was a main stage almost-headliner who played like the world was hers. Everyone’s talking about Drake and Madonna’s tawdry little smooch, but don’t be fooled -- Florence + the Machine was Sunday’s standout.

Florence Welch has never needed to convince anyone she can really, really sing. That was apparent since her 2010 MTV Video Music Awards performance with “Dog Days Are Over,” which transfixed viewers with the raw verve and skill of a new talent. She’s since become a festival mainstay and a major-venue headliner, but somehow still easy enough to overlook with big, regal pop that never quite captured U.S. crowds as fully as her talent warranted. Even if you’d just raved to her Calvin Harris track “Sweet Nothing” in the Sahara Tent, it might have slipped your mind that her new album “How Big How Blue How Beautiful” was due on June 2.

That all went out the window at Coachella. Welch demolished the main stage’s huge expanse in ways that even AC/DC couldn’t hack. Her voice has never been better, and when she dug into big runs on “What Kind of Man” and “Ship to

Wreck,” she made it impossible to do anything but watch her. Whether banging tambourines or prowling the front rows or just twirling and reveling in the sight of that many people at her beck and call, she earned every minute of that huge platform and took it for all it was worth.

She brought out a big, potent live band for the occasion. No singer has needed the support of backing vocalists less, but they added an unquantifiable zest and grandeur to “Shake It Out.” But Welch was a force of nature all on her own, whether hitting expert high notes, or whirling herself into captivating fits of white cloth and red hair. Fans from across the grounds ran headlong into the crowd just to soak it in.

It probably shouldn’t be a surprise that a second-billed main stage act put on such a show. Of course she’s good, of course she had won a crowd. But still, as the Sunday night field buzzed with Drake anticipation, for about an hour on Sunday night, Welch took Coachella by the throat and made it hers.

Photo Credits:

Official/Tom Beard Page 1; band Page 2; Roman Gokhman, sfweekly.com Page 5;

Violetbaudelaire and MegabnAlley Page 7; The Desert Sun, stills from Coachella

livestream (2), Getty Images (2) Page 9; Ace Showbiz Page 10; Marcus Yam/LA

Times Page 11; Rolling Stone Page 12; Mairead Nash, thelineofbestfit.com Page 13;

The Desert Sun, WireImage Page 14; The Desert Sun Page 15; Under The Radar

Page 16.

Reviews:

NME Page 4; LA Times Page 10.