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SAN FRANCISCO, CA-
“… After six and a half hours on my feet, the Goddess named Florence Welch took the stage accompanied by her wonderful Machine. Touring in support of her fourth full-length album, High as Hope, the audience awoke from their Bon Iver slumber with an eruption of uncontrollable cheers as soon as the stage lights dimmed prior to her entrance.
I don’t even know where to begin to describe Florence’s aura on stage. It was the first time I had been able to see her perform live, and my expectations were high because of glowing reviews from peers, but … wow … simply, wow. Ethereal. Spritely. Elven. Mystical. Earthly. Motherly. Florence Welch was all these things, and for a few moments the pain in my feet and the throbbing in my back vanished as I was transported to this songstress’ musical dimension.
Barefoot, wearing a sheer, white, flowing gown, Florence commanded the stage effortlessly, drawing the audience in with her magnetism and conviction. When she urged us to “Hug a stranger”, we were compelled to turn to our neighbors and reach out for an embrace. When she confessed that despite the troubling times, “My heart hurts a lot right now, but I believe in people, and I believe in love,” you felt immediately comforted and believed in love too.
There was a particular moment during the performance that seemed strangely magical to me. Early on in her set, she had asked the audience to put away their cell phones. During “What Kind Of Man” (prior to the encores), she leapt off the stage to physically engage her fans while she sang. One such fan, who was standing about 4 people away from me, was recording the moment on his cell phone, which she noticed, and she gently took the phone from the man’s hand, gave a gentle look into his eyes before returning the phone to him, whereupon the young man literally humbled himself to her and put his phone away. She then placed her hand on his face, and the young man gazed into her eyes with an indescribable humanity (unbelievable, I actually found video of the moment which is embedded below). In that brief moment, I witnessed an entire universe of emotions, which I still can’t quite adequately describe, other than it being simply magical …”
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