Florence and the Machine: Storming good show | Electric Picnic

Florence and the Machine have recently headlined Glastonbury, and it’s pretty clear she knows how to work a field. Her set is storming from the moment she steps on stage in front of her wall of sequins.

Bare-foot and absolutely filled with energy, she bounds from one end of the stage to the other without pausing for breath, and while singing. She throws many, many shapes. Is it interpretative dance? Is it a seizure? Is it just Florence Welch? The answer isn’t immediately obvious.

The set does significantly lull in the middle, while she does some newer material. People know How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, but the rest goes slightly over the crowd’s head. She invites us to be her choir, and conducts us through a dramatic performance of Shake It Out, but her later requests for backing singing help go unnoticed once we move past the Lungs album.

The crowd are here for You Got the Love and Dog Days are Over, and when she does finally deliver them, the audience lap it up. As she runs off into the mist, we’re left to catch our breath.

In three words: Storming good show.