On Sunday night, Florence Welch closed out her High As Hope tour with a spectacular finale at the Acropolis – Florence And The Machine's first Athens gig in a decade, and an especially meaningful moment for the performer, whose obsession with Greek mythology dates back to her childhood. “The Greek gods and godesses have given me so much inspiration over the years,” she told British Vogue ahead of her final show. “It seemed fitting to finish the tour in the presence of Athena herself.”

The awe-inspiring backdrop to the last night of the tour, which has seen Welch and her band traverse the globe to play more than 100 gigs, isn't the only thing that made it special. For every ticket sold, £1 was donated to Doctors Without Borders, which provides emergency medical care to those affected or displaced by conflict, natural disasters or disease outbreaks around the world. As Welch's haunting vocals rang out at the Herodion Theatre on Sunday night, the total sum raised had exceeded half a million pounds.

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“At a time of ever-increasing nationalism, xenophobia, and [with] the refugee crisis still ongoing, their work is more vital than ever,” Welch said of the humanitarian organisation the band has worked with for a number of years. “I have had the privilege of playing in many countries all over the world, and what I have seen in those audiences is love, a love based on shared humanity, vulnerability and empathy, rather than ideas of nation or country. So Doctors Without Borders seemed a natural extension of that ethos.”

In addition to approaching her concerts with a conscience, Welch is also famously hands-on when it comes to the aesthetic side of her theatrical performances. For the High As Hope tour, the singer worked with her long-time collaborators, stylist Aldene Johnson and Alessandro Michele's Gucci, on a dreamy, ethereal wardrobe that looked right at home among the last vestiges of Ancient Greece.

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“What I wear on stage informs so much of the performance, and dance was becoming a larger and larger part of the show, so the freedom to move was very important,” Welch explained. “Although I think of my performance style as essentially genderless, I move between the masculine and the feminine many times during a show. This album was very much about a feminine strength. And to show that you can occupy the headline spot without having to emulate the masculine ideals of a traditional rockstar. Gucci is so good at dealing with that duality and created dresses that moved with me and elevated my performance, they were fragile and strong at the same time,” she said.

“You want to take the audience into an otherworldly place, to haunt them, put them under a spell for a few hours,” Welch said, adding that Michele imbues “everything he does with a touch of magic”. In the case of the singer's stage looks, that meant creating a series of what Welch describes as “gowns fit for a ghost”.

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Welch's delicate gowns are in marked contrast to the power of her voice and her formidable stage presence, but the singer admits to being “naturally hermit-like”. “I struggle with anxiety... and I'm not a good traveller,” she said. “So there were moments where I honestly thought I would have to pack up and go home.” Her biggest source of strength when taking to the stage night after night? The fans. “They really held me through a lot,” said Welch. “One of the mostly beautiful things I’ve seen come out of this tour is the community that has grown around it. Maybe it was something about the vulnerability of this particular record, but for me it moved beyond performer and audience and we became a little family, connected not only by shared pain, but by joy, hope, and beauty.”

© Lillie Eiger

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