“This was an album created with so much feeling,” Florence Welch told the crowd. “I never thought anyone could add more feeling to it”
Florence and the Machine is remembering its first album — but backed by an orchestra! Last night, Florence Welch was joined by the BBC Orchestra for a symphonic reimagining of the group’s debut album, Lungs.
The show, called “Symphony of Lungs,” was part of BBC Proms and saw Welch sing the 2009 album in its entirety from Royal Albert Hall for her only full concert of the year.
“This was an album created with so much feeling,” she told the crowd. “I never thought anyone could add more feeling to it.”
Florence + the Machine’s Symphony of Lungs, with Jules Buckley and his Orchestra for BBC Proms. To hear Lungs live, not just in all its splendour but enhanced by glorious orchestral arrangements, was no less meaningful than to hear it for the first time. pic.twitter.com/Pvee7eZWD1
— Jay / Juliano Zaffino (@jayzaff) September 12, 2024
The show saw Welch and the orchestra, conducted by Jules Buckley, perform numerous songs from the Lungs era for the first time, and revive other classics that haven’t been on the band’s setlists, including “Bird Song,” which Welch hadn’t performed for the first time in 15 years. Also on the setlist were songs such as “Howl” and “Blinding” that she hadn’t performed since 2014 and “Hardest of Hearts” that fans hadn’t heard since 2010.
“With high drama and delicate flow in equal parts, Welch commands the stage through deeper album cuts – the rolling rhythms of ‘Blinding’ and the twinkling sway of ‘Hurricane Drunk’ are exceptional – through to uproarious hits like ‘Dog Days Are Over,’” read a Rolling Stone review of the concert.
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Welch revealed that she’d join BBC Proms in a British Vogue interview back in April, telling the outlet, “When [the invitation] came in, they were like, ‘We know you’re off, but would you…?’ and I was like, ‘Yes!’”
“The background to life in my house is classical music, and especially the more obscure things,” she added. “So it’s a really exciting thing to be asked to do – the Proms is just so special.”
