At the start of Season 6 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the main character has to dig herself out of her own grave after being violently brought back from the dead. Afterwards she walks through riot-strewn streets of fire, disorientated and bleeding, asking: ‘Is this hell?’ The rest of the season she spirals into crippling depression, apathy and a self-destructive relationship.
Florence Welch considered calling her last album ‘Season 6’ in honour of that arc, so much did she see herself in Buffy’s struggle. During her last tour Florence suffered a broken foot on stage, before losing her unborn child and nearly dying with complications of that ectopic pregnancy. Hell and back doesn’t even begin to cover it.
Tonight the song ‘Everybody Scream’ begins the evening with a primal shriek of pain that asks everyone in the crowd to join in the excavation of her loss. Glasgow fans have packed the arena to the brim, crowding round the long runway that pierces through the heart of the crowd. ‘We’ll get through this together,’ Florence says. Everybody jumps, sings, shakes in frenzied response.
Florence wears a dress of black mourning, edged with white Victoriana lace. Yet this is no funeral. When she sings ‘Shake it Out’ early in the set you feel like she’s trying to convince herself that the stage can still be a place for catharsis, joy and relief. Compared to her last few tours her stage movements are more subdued, contained, fragile. Her four dancers perform how she might have done in the past – a swirling coven of madwomen let free from the attic, prowling and hissing around the stage.
The first section of the show brings the horror to life with dark songs like Seven Devils, Big God and Daffodil creating an eerie, gothic atmosphere. The big hits like Spectrum and Cosmic Love sound more vulnerable than before, with her actively fighting against the darkness and fear. Her band, and harpist in particular, bring an otherworldly and powerful dimension to the songs.
The most vulnerable moment of the night is when she sings ‘You Can Have It All’ – the song about her miscarriage. She roars through every deeply moving note, summoning a strength and power that feels primordial.
After wiping away her tears she offers us two moments of lighter, relief on the wry ‘Music By Men’ and asks us to ‘share in her shame’ of being ghosted again on the fan favourite ‘Buckle’ which was co-written with Mitski. Even in these lighter moments there’s an undercurrent of emotional honesty and tragedy which few other artists can match.
Some fans wondered if she would sing ‘King’ on the tour, with its refrain of ‘I am no mother’ potentially too traumatically true for comfort. Maybe they had a right to be worried because even though she sings the song with everything she has, in the end she is on the floor, her voice breaking on the line about getting ‘back on with the show’.
Towards the end of the night she sings the cutting ‘One of the Greats’ where she ends up standing ‘arms outstretched / back from the dead’ ready to reclaim her crown as one of the few women from her era who have reached true legend status. ‘Old Religion’ also references Buffy and the challenge of living up to expectations of being ‘the chosen one’ for her fans.
Those fans who’ve been with her through it all are rewarded with the epic closers of ‘Dog Days are Over’ and ‘Free’ which both give us a chance to dance with complete abandon, letting go for a moment everything that went before.
At the end of Buffy’s seventh season something extraordinary happens. Every potential slayer in the world is infused with their own power. Buffy’s no longer the only chosen one, doomed to suffer a young and tragic death. She has survived the hell of ‘season six’ in order to share her magic with others.
Florence too finishes her set with hope, a message that ‘peace is coming’. She’s sent out her gifts to her fans, shown them that together they can ease the burden. And those in the crowd with musical potential have witnessed how a woman is able not just become ‘one of the greats’ but ascend to a higher plane entirely.
The evening’s setlist might not appeal to the casual fan, but for those who have an affinity for troubled heroines dealing with their darkest moments this show was a masterclass.
The hardest thing in this world is to live in it. Thank God Florence is willing to walk through the fire with us.
TOUR DATES: https://florenceandthemachine.net/
Highway Queens 
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