{"id":777634,"date":"2026-05-06T16:26:28","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T16:26:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/777634\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T16:26:28","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T16:26:28","slug":"florence-and-the-machine-create-a-healing-ground","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/777634\/","title":{"rendered":"Florence And The Machine Create A Healing Ground"},"content":{"rendered":"

Florence and the Machine
Toyota Center
May 5, 2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

To say \u201ca lot has happened\u201d since the last time Florence and the Machine dervished through Houston would be an understatement. That was back in 2018, barely a year after Hurricane Harvey and the first World Series win for the Astros. It was a poignant time, when the city was rebuilding and trash cans were only know for waste disposal.<\/p>\n

Cheap shots aside, the world is a different place. Few know this as keenly as Florence Welch. Her latest album with the Machine \u2014 Everybody Scream \u2014 details her recovery from an ectopic pregnancy and miscarriage that required emergency surgery. It also presents a blistering indictment of sexism and misogyny that confronts Welch\u2019s own recent history.<\/p>\n

Nowhere was that more apparent than in her opening number, the searing \u201cEverybody Scream,\u201d in which the willing Toyota Center crowd gave in to Welch\u2019s exhortation to do just that. It was a powerful moment that set the emotional tone for the rest of the show.<\/p>\n

From the moment she emerged from beneath the walkway floor, smoke clinging her to like fog on the moors, Welch kept the crowd \u2014 for lack of a better word \u2014 bewitched. And as the night went on, one couldn\u2019t shake the feeling we were witnessing something special. Last night wasn\u2019t just a concert, but an exorcism of sorts.<\/p>\n

Unsurprisingly, the latest album dominated last night\u2019s setlist. Welch did a good job mixing in their older tracks. The new \u201cWitch Dance\u201d was followed by a triumphant \u201cShake It Out\u201d and \u201cSeven Devils.\u201d The latter almost as haunting as it was that stormy October evening in 2012 when I last caught the Machine<\/a> in concert.<\/p>\n

That show, however, lacked the backup dancers I ended up referring to as the \u201cSalem Four.\u201d Predominant during the more sinister first third of the show, they capered like extras from Suspiria, serving as muses (\u201cWitch Dance\u201d), victims (\u201cDaffodil\u201d), and antagonists (\u201cSeven Devils\u201d) for Welch.<\/p>\n

She took the first of her offstage trips during \u201cWhich Witch,\u201d sadly the only song from 2015\u2019s How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. Welch held court on a standalone downstage platform, belting out \u201cWho\u2019s the heretic now?\u201d and complimenting the audience on singing along with \u201cfull chest.\u201d<\/p>\n

It was the first of many moments where Welch was clearly moved by the crowd\u2019s response. The \u201cEverybody Scream\u201d tour is, unsurprisingly, meticulously choreographed. But she couldn\u2019t help breaking into smiles during the response to \u201cCosmic Love\u201d and \u201cSpectrum.\u201d Or maybe it was because the dancers had taken a break.<\/p>\n

\"florenceFlorence, ascendant. Credit: Lillie Eiger<\/p>\n

Next up was \u201cNever Let Me Go\u201d \u2014 from Ceremonials, the band\u2019s second album. Welch told us she\u2019d sworn off singing it for almost a decade, because it reminded her of a darker period. Recently moved by how people spoke of what it meant to them \u2014 a disquieting number having gotten tattoos of it even \u2014 she\u2019s brought it back out for this tour. Now, she said, it\u2019s a reminder of \u201cwhat we\u2019ve all survived.\u201d<\/p>\n

Next up was \u201cBuckle,\u201d another new one. And one Welch introduced with chagrin, noting she should\u2019ve outgrown songs about people not texting her back. It was delivered with enough smiles to make you think she was in a good mood in spite of herself. That was followed by the sparse-until-it-isn\u2019t \u201cKing,\u201d which also marked the brief return of the dancers. Shudder.<\/p>\n

As I\u2019ve noted before, the driving instrument of the Machine is Welch\u2019s voice, which ranges from mournful to thunderous, often in the space of a single song. But I\u2019d be remiss in not mentioning the Machine, especially harpist Tom Monger. To this day he\u2019s the only harpist I know by name. <\/p>\n

Welch closed out the main set with \u201cSympathy Magic,\u201d the song which most directly addresses her near-death experience (\u201cI no longer try to be good, it didn\u2019t keep me safe like you told me it would\u201d). She walked the barrier, singing \u201cCome on, I can take it\u201d and \u201cWhat else, what else, what else\u201d to the general admission faithful until the lights went down.<\/p>\n

After a brief pause, Welch emerged on the other side of the stage to \u201cOne of the Greats.\u201d It was practically a continuation of the previous song, one in which she reasserts herself after having been cast aside: \u201cDo you regret bringing me to life?\u201d Then she rejoined the Machine onstage to sarcastically assert, \u201cHow like a woman to profit from her madness,\u201d before giving the audience a knowing wink.<\/p>\n

They closed out the encore with \u201cDog Days Are Over\u201d (if only), \u201cFree,\u201d and \u201cAnd Love.\u201d That last one fittingly the last track on Everybody Scream. The closing chorus of \u201cpeace is coming\u201d simultaneously coming across as an assertion and a plea.<\/p>\n

That 2012 show opened with the line, \u201cWe are Florence and the Machine. We come from England and we demand sacrifices.\u201d That crowd was certainly willing to comply, but last night was something different. You could see it in the faces of the people Welch sang to and in her reaction to the outpouring of support and affection. I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve been to a show like this before, in which both the audience and the artist truly needed that emotional exchange. It was powerful, and is going to sit with me for a long time indeed.<\/p>\n

How Was The Opener?<\/strong> Enthusiastic. CMAT, aka Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, said how happy she was to be in Houston, home of the Queen of Country Music (Beyonc\u00e9). And her band was just as goofily spirited as she was. They were an interesting contrast to what was to come.<\/p>\n

Personal Bias:<\/strong> Would\u2019ve liked to hear \u201cThird Eye\u201d or \u201cWhat the Water Gave Me.\u201d After her story about \u201cNever Let Me Go,\u201d I get it.<\/p>\n

The Crowd:<\/strong> Stevie Nicks\u2019 grandkids, with just a soup\u00e7on of goth.<\/p>\n

Random Notebook Dump:<\/strong> \u201cThat guitarist in CMAT\u2019s band with the cowboy hat looks like he walked into the wrong show. Never mind: green pants.\u201d<\/p>\n

SET LIST<\/strong>
Everybody Scream
Witch Dance
Shake It Out
Seven Devils
Big God
Daffodil
Which Witch
Cosmic Love
Spectrum
Never Let Me Go
Buckle
King
The Old Religion
Howl
Heaven Is Here
Sympathy Magic<\/p>\n

ENCORE<\/strong>
One of the Greats
Dog Days Are Over
Free
And Love<\/p>\n

\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Florence and the MachineToyota CenterMay 5, 2026 To say \u201ca lot has happened\u201d since the last time Florence…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":777635,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5130],"tags":[167816,12730,4345,358,294719,3187],"class_list":["post-777634","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-houston","tag-florence-the-machine","tag-homepage","tag-houston","tag-texas","tag-toyota-center-houston","tag-tx"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116528571254671748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777634","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777634"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777634\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777635"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777634"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777634"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777634"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}