Review by Aidan Cuffe
Photography by Kieran Frost
I headed into town in blistering sunshine which had shone most of the day which made the walk down to the Olympia this evening such a pleasant walk. There’s nothing like a mix of sunshine, strolling and heading down to see a top international artist strut her stuff in a small intimate venue like The Olympia Theater.
When i first saw the announcement that it would be in the Olympia i thought that was far too small of a venue and 2 sell out nights in a row it definitely could have been held in a bigger venue, but it wasn’t, and boy was it a good decision. Lets not get bogged down by Florence just yet, after a short wait inside the support act for Florence were Brooklyn’s promising indie pop band The Drums.
The band rolled on stage and kicked off the first tune as the lead singer Jonathan Pierce strutted to the stage pulling poses as he came. They all were dressed fairly preppy with trousers so short you can see the full length of their socks. Guitarist and Tambourine players Jacob Graham had boundless energy as he span a dizzying amount of times during the first song then bounced from each side of the stage with a tambourine in the second. It may not be intended but members of the band came across very camp, which might have been something they were going for, they pose at every opportunity and play to the crowd looking for a response. They played a few new songs from their forthcoming debut album “The Drums” which is due out June 7th 2010 and it was nice to see that parts of the crowd seemed familiar with some of their material particularly a song called Lets go Surfing.
They thanked the crowd for having them and the curtain came down on the stage to hide the stage from the crowd as the suspense built waiting for Florence. The middle of the curtain started bulging as items were being setup and the crowd started to get excited as the chant rung out of “Florence, Florence, Florence” as i lamented, nobody ever shouts for the machine. They must feel so left out.
Florence’s show starts with a bang as the sound of the beginning of Howl rung around the arena as the curtain slowly drew upwards revealing an amazing set with a background of flower designs behind the band which now consists of a mini orchestra top right of the stage behind a perspex screen. Flowers permeated everything as everywhere you looked on the keyboard stands, around the stage, bottom of the Mic stand there were bunches of flowers. To the back left of the stage were large bird cages with light bulbs in the center that periodically lit up. Keyboards on the far right and the harp which is now synonymous with Florence tucked away on the left as Florence’s amazing voice kicked the crowd into full voice too.
Suddenly its clear why this show is in the Olympia, and why I’m here watching her for the second time having seen her live at Electric Picnic 09. I thought she was awesome in a tent at EP, but the only words for her vocals are immense or flawless as her voice echo’s around the amphitheater which right now feels like it was built in 1879 and has been waiting for a voice like hers with the venue’s natural acoustics to compliment each other so well.
She rolls through My boy builds Coffins and the crowd goes absolutely nuts when she breaks into Girl with one eye taking a shot or two of some Jameson whiskey as she embraces being in Ireland with a crowd who have no problem encouraging her to knock back some of Ireland’s finest. She then belts out Hurricane Drunk before sitting down at the drums to remove her heels.
Minus the heels she seems much less the towering haunting diva as her persona seems to shift towards a manic pixie as barefoot she leaps and frolics around the stage. She grabs a drumstick from her drummer and burst into Drumming Song as she helps the drummer before grabbing the mic as the crowd sing the words back to her word for word. This is her stage and she is absolutely owning it. She passes around the Jameson to the entire support cast or The Machine if you will She Between two Lungs and Hardest of Hearts and then explains that she is to play Swimming Song which she explains that without the mini orchestra they couldn’t play live previously. As she finishes up with that tune the flowery background raises up to reveal a starry background as Florence belts out Cosmic Love as the crowd go absolutely nuts for it. The whole time the song is playing with the crowd jumping up and down i just got this surreal feeling i was in an ad for O2. It was all rather surreal.
Florence took a moment out at this point to sing Happy Birthday to her drummers dad who was up in one of the boxes in the venue as the whole crowd did their obligatory part in the show and sang it with her. She goes on to explain that it seems that its now part of the set as every few shows its someones birthday and that she might have to release it as a single (which got a few chuckles around the crowd).
Next up was a brand new song as Florence let her hair down to flow over her shoulders for a song she described as “7 minutes long and relentless” called Strangeness and Charm. It has only been played so far live on the two Dublin dates, privileged are we to get the airing of this new effort was actually quite good and at 7 minutes quite epic.
She finished off her set with You got the love which is the song which really has done wonders for her despite being a cover song and Dog days are over. She seems so pleased as the crowd sing back every word to her at times leaving her not needing to say a word as the crowd become the star of the show. If there is a hint of shyness left in her from her rather quick rise to prominence then its firmly on its last toes as she bounces around the stage for both songs, playing to the crowd and prompting for silence at the beginning of Dog Days which the crowd duly provide before breaking into clapping in time to the beat of the song. Florence climbs up onto the amps during the lull in the song as the band keep things ticking over as she runs practice drills for a 3 count where she wants the crowd to go nuts and jump and mosh like crazy. After 2 successful count and jumps she does it for real and belts out the final part of the song as the crowd lap up every last minute of her epic voice.
The lights go down as the band leave the stage and the obligatory “One more tune” and “Ole Ole Ole” ring out around the Olympia before a massive cheers goes up as they return Florence minus her flowing dress in now in baggy shorts showing a bit of leg and belts out Kiss with a Fist and Rabbit Heart finished off what was a thoroughly enduring stage show where Florence captivated her crowd with her stage presence and delighted us with her amazing voice. If you had hoped the Florence mania would slow up anytime soon don’t hold your breath, It most likely is only just beginning. When i compare the live shows from Festival tent to The Olympia it shows why a little artistic integrity can provide an end product which can compliment both sides and give the paying punter a spectacle worth seeing. Thanks to the perfect venue acoustics and flawless vocals, i can now see why they called the album “Lungs”.
