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Florence + The Machine at the Comcast Center

Florence + The Machine
Comcast Center
Mansfield, MA
September 14

There may be a few readers wondering how a review of Florence + The Machine sneaked onto the Relix site. The short answer is: we cover everything. The real answer, though, is 26-year old Florence Welch and her half-dozen backing musicians kick some serious ass in live performance.

I’ve seen FATM twice in concert, the most recent being a late summer show at the 14,000-seat Comcast Center amphitheater in Mansfield, MA. It was the first date back in the U.S. for Welch and company after a month of shows in Europe. For those who may be under the impression that Florence + The Machine is all harp strings and flowers, you could not be more misinformed.

With her striking ginger mane, the 5’9” Welch stands squarely on the shoulders of some of the best female rock vocalists, drawing influence from and comparisons to pioneers like Stevie Nicks and Grace Slick. She opened the Comcast Center show with “Only If For A Night,” the lead-off track on her most recent album, last year’s Ceremonials, before launching into two of her best live numbers: “Drumming Song” and “Cosmic Love.” Both are songs off of Lungs, her critically-acclaimed 2009 debut album, and both are propelled by Chris Hayden’s rock-ribbed drumming, which is one of the stand-out features of FATM’s live sound.

The stage was back-dropped by a large, multi-paneled art-deco screen rising a good 15 or 20 feet behind Hayden’s drum kit. Welch began the show from behind the screen, appearing only in silhouette until midway through the opening song, when she emerged to take her spot at center stage.

The 15-song set was weighted in favor of the more recent Ceremonials, featuring 10 of the 12 tracks from that album, compared to just four from Lungs. Standouts included “Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up),” “Spectrum,” “Shake It Out,” and “No Light, No Light,” as well as set-closer “Dog Days Are Over.”

The tour heads to the South and West through mid-October, before Florence + The Machine returns to Europe to close out the year.