Florence and the Machine

It's always interesting to go to a new venue to see a band and for me this is the first time to the plainly named 229 Great Portland Street. It's opposite the tube station so won't tax your Sat-Nav gene and after negotiating a prolonged entry – they were only letting in people 4 at a time – I'm inside by 8.45pm.

229 is a small but cosy place and even has a chill out room at the back. It's the sort of setting that is ideal for showcasing new bands and giving fans a chance to see bigger ones if you win one of those numerous radio competitions. Primal Scream are playing soon and it's fair to say that its durability will be severely tested that night.

However, tonight it's the first headlining show from Florence and the Machine. On their MySpace page there’s a description of grindcore/acousmatic/tape music/ melodramatic popular song, which I think covers a nice cross section of genres as an introduction. That's quite a list to live up and do justice to. Apparently she's also a poet too so a varied CV all round. There's a small stage with a large harp to one side which conjures up images of an almost Zen like atmosphere. This will not be the case tonight.

Florence bounds onto the stage in a rush of heady enthusiasm and within seconds clarifies that she can deliver when it comes to vocals that brook no argument. Looking like a trendy version of 'Bianca' from Eastenders, she's joined by just 2 other musicians (drums and guitar). What is it with the lack of bass players these days? Is there a national shortage? No matter it all works fine without one and it's just an observation of a latest trend rather than a negative mark against Ms Florence.



The opening 'Birdsong' goes from a highly rhythmic beat to a slowed down ditty, which allows for Florence to bellow out the lyrics. You're sort of reminded of a cross between Kate Nash and the White Stripes, which is certainly no bad thing here. Florence's sheer joy at the show comes across as completely genuine and she comments that "it's like some weird birthday party" which engages and amuses the audience in equal amounts.

'Coffins' and 'Falling' allow Flo to stretch her vocal cords and an excellent cover of Cold War Kids 'Hospital Beds' demonstrates a fine line in reinterpretation. You could certainly imagine her doing justice to all manner of cover versions. At times there are reminders of Siouxsie Sioux especially when there is yelping but this is impressive quality yelping. This is something I think we're all capable of but probably without the necessary quality control needed for public consumption.

This is followed by 'Girl with One Eye' which does have the making of an indie classic. It would be easy to see this nestling at the top of one of Peel's festive 50's without any complaint. The energy level from the group doesn't really let up and the audience start to mimic the vigorous display in front of them. Towards the end of the set Florence wanders into the crowd and even kneels down at one point but there is a respectful acknowledgement of this walkabout from all around her.



It all comes to a close with 'Donkey Cosh and the new single 'Kiss with a Fist' (released 9th June). The former necessitates Flo asking for one of her own T-shirts to keep all her bumps in place so she can dance in a frenzied fashion without fear of embarrassment and let's face it, we've all had that at one time or another. The latter garnishes recognition from the partisan crowd and then they're off.

They return for a 2-song encore, 'Dog days' and 'Electric Feel' and it all ends up with a group thrashing of drums, guitar and Flo's head shaking more vibrantly than Shaking Stevens with a Bianca wig.



Florence and the Machine are due to play at the (still not sold out) Glastonbury Festival in a couple of weeks time and are also at Bestival with, amongst others, Chuck Berry. In such a setting it should prove to be an interesting test to see if Florence can project her very likeable character out to a wider audience. She's certainly got the larynx for such projection and I think there's a good chance she may succeed and maybe win the quirky vote, which is often up for grabs at festivals.

It was also nice to see a harp on stage and if you're out there searching for your own harp of gold then maybe Florence and the Machine will help to guide you in the right direction.

FUTURE GIGS

sorry, we currently have no gigs listed for this act.