I am done with my graceless heart

So tonight I’m gonna cut it out and then restart

When I got an email announcing some “intimate UK shows in May”, I never dared to dream that a London date would actually fall in the week in which I’d be visiting… and on one of the very few evenings for which I hadn’t already booked theater/musical tickets! Consider this week and a half of notice, add in the fact that a local friend has a Royal Festival Hall membership and got us tickets the day before the official onsale, and I honestly still cannot quite believe how many of my lucky stars aligned to make my being at this gig possible.

The Royal Festival Hall is part of the Southbank Centre, and you wouldn’t think so from the outside, but it’s a truly gorgeous 2500 seat venue with impeccable acoustics (it was one of the first venues in the world which was built by applying scientific principles), and the most beautiful 7866 pipe organ stretching the entire length of the stage. Our seats were in the front row of the rear stalls, and I had a lovely view of the stage; this was my third time seeing her since the Lungs tour, and I feel like the amount of flowers on stage has increased every time, haha.

Shock Machine were supporting, a new project by a former member of the Klaxons (and, fun fact, Keira Knightley’s husband), and they weren’t our cup of tea, for the most part. There was an oddly long change-over between the acts, which is the norm at this venue, according to my friend. The eight(?)-piece machine finally got on stage and started plucking away when Florence joined them, barefoot as always, wearing a long, silky, ivory dress with billowing sleeves, and started Between Two Lungs. The show had been on such short-notice, I’d barely had the time to get excited for it, and I don’t think it had really sunk in yet – but this first song really knocked the breath out of me. Her voice soared and was crystal clear – it’s a song in which the somewhat repetitive instrumentals are really just background noise, while the focus lays on the vocal harmonies and she gets to showcase and play with her range. I had goosebumps all through it, it was definitely one of my favorites of the night, and the way she moves is so ethereal, she looks so graceful and weightless.

This wonderful but rather mellow opener was followed by the much faster-paced Queen Of Peace, during which I really got to appreciate the acoustics in the hall – it was a ton of fun, and I couldn’t help but tap my feet along…. then she asked the audience to stand for it. I did so, grudgingly – I’m not the tallest, and standing really blocked my previously flawless view, even though being in the front row of the back half really helped, because I had no one immediately in front of me. Still, I’d been walking all day and had been looking forward to a seated concert, so I was slightly peeved. If you want the audience to stand, book a general admission venue, not a prestigious seated one (in case you can’t tell from the slight bitterness in my tone, we actually didn’t sit back down for the rest of the show – although I suspect most of the audience would’ve actually quite liked to). Only If For A Night was next, so we had every album represented in the first three songs!

Hunger was next, which, having been traveling, I hadn’t had the chance to hear yet. She prefaced it by saying that she never thought that she’d ever say, let alone sing the things in this song, and thanked us for listening. I always forget how soft-spoken she is when she talks, it’s such a contrast to her strong singing voice! My friend had told me that this song was somewhat different, and I’d have to agree – it feels more openly poppy, but I really liked the verses, and I’m sure the more repetitive chorus will grow on me more upon repeat listens, too. As far as the so-far released new songs go, as of now I prefer Sky Full of Song, which was incidentally next up on the setlist. It was quite a change of pace from the previous song, and also from the following Dog Days Are Over – that one really got the crowd going, and I don’t think I’ll ever get tired of hearing it live – the first song by her I ever heard over eight years ago, and the one that made me fall in love. It was one of the very few “hits” she played tonight, and she stopped in the middle while the band jammed to say her usual bit (I’ve seen her do it before, anyway) about turning to the person next to you and telling them you love them, even if they’re a stranger, and to put the phone away to enjoy the moment.

Mother is a favorite I tend to sometimes forget about. Such energy, I love the contrast within that song. Next up was a track from the upcoming album called Patricia – she introduced it saying that it was about a woman who meant a lot to her and that she doesn’t know she wrote it, and that this will make for a weird conversation… but that the middle part is about someone else, and how that’s a less fun game to figure out, or something to that effect. It was absolutely stunning – my friend agrees and was almost moved to tears by it. It features a lot of harp, and ends on a crescendo of “it’s such a wonderful thing to love“. Falling, a b-side from the Lungs era, followed, and then another new song, 100 Years, and I can’t decide which one was my favorite between this and Patricia. She waved to her sister who was sitting in one of the boxes to her right, explaining that when she first heard it she took the piss out of her saying that despite having all these talented musicians on stage, she only ever writes songs that have three notes. It’s true that is starts out like that, but it grows into a real beast of a song – both these new songs were better than the two released so far, which makes me so excited for the album!

The rest of the main set was closed out with a How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful triplet – Ship To Wreck was the first. It was my first favorite off that record when it first came out, so I’ve put it on a lot of mix CDs, and have really sort of overplayed it, but it’s still such a good song, and the one that got the perhaps loudest crowd reaction after Dog Days Are Over. Then she did Delilah, a song I really don’t care much for on the album, but it’s such a delight to see live – she was jumping, and headbanging, and running left and right and into the audience all the way to the rear stalls, and back down the aisles – she did this multiple times, at a run, and never missed even a note. The lungs on this woman are incredible! What Kind Of Man closed the set, which had felt rather short, but I felt sure that she’d come back for an at least two or three song encore.

As the lights were still dimmed, I saw movement up by the organ, and pointed it out to my friend, saying that I thought someone had just sat down at it. She said that it had just been restored, and that it hardly ever gets played… and then the first organ notes of Shake It Out filled the auditorium. I honestly don’t care much for that song (it’s actually the reason why I didn’t give Ceremonials the time of day when it first came out), but this was truly something else, and I scrambled to get a bit of it on video:

That was it. I was surprised at the lack of Drumming Song, Rabbit Heart, and You’ve Got the Love especially, but I suppose it’s only natural that the oldest material would be the first to get the boot as her repertoire grows. Still, fourteen songs is a rather short set, and the tickets were very expensive, so I would’ve gladly taken another song (or two or three). The show was flawless, but it somehow didn’t feel like a proper concert – more like a new album sneak-peak showcase of sorts, I guess. I hope the exorbitant ticket prices were more due to the fancy venue and the show’s exclusivity, and don’t reflect what we can expect the upcoming tour prices to be. I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything though, and feel incredibly blessed to have witnessed this very special show, with that once in a lifetime encore offering. I look forward to her new album in a way that I haven’t since Ceremonials, and I hope that Vienna will be on the upcoming tour map!

Setlist Between Two Lungs

Queen of Peace

Only If For A Night

Hunger

Sky Full Of Song

Dog Days Are Over

Mother

Patricia

Falling

100 Years

Ship To Wreck

Delilah

What Kind Of Man » E n c o r e «

Shake It Out