Florence+The Machine.

Last Thursday night, my friend Priscilla and I went to the Florence+The Machine concert in (Le) Poisson Rouge in the West Village. The concert did not start until 8:30pm but we got there at 5pm to hopefully obtain a good standing spot.

We almost missed the venue, located on 158 Bleecker Street. There wasn't a very visible sign saying "(Le) Poisson Rouge," possibly to have that cool, underground vibe. After the security guy made me throw out the cookies I bought from the Duane Reade down the block and my water, we made our way downstairs into a dark room with a bar. We were confused and eventually asked another suited security guy when we were able to make our way to the room were the concert was happening. We had to wait for the double doors to open. At 7pm they opened the door and we landed a spot front and center. The stage was kind of low but it was alright, I guess. We stood right in front of the microphone stand that was decorated with fake flowers. It didn't look as tacky as it sounds. The room was lit with this cool blue light. Here's a picture. They moved the tables away for the crowd to stand.

 I talked to some people before the show started. These were hard core fans of Florence's music and some were even going to the concert at Terminal 5 the following night. They talked of her music like it was part of their being. In their defense, Florence's music is pretty powerful, the kind of music that compels you to close your eyes and just feel it. The crowd seemed pretty diverse, minus the fact most were under the age of 30: a medical student, a recent college graduate, a graphics designer, blonde party girls, and a few girls with British accents. Florence + The Machine is supposed to be quite mainstream in the UK so the British girls made sense.

The opening act was canceled so they were able to come on stage right at 8:30pm. The Machine comes out first (the band members) and then she came out, clad in this odd long white tunic with gold short shorts underneath, her red hair completely covering her face. She played "Howl" first, which is one of my favorite songs.  It was slightly eerie the way she was hitting the drum she had in front of her while looking down. My only complaint was that the microphone was low so it was hard to hear her sing.

 As you can tell from the shot, we were right in front of her.

As for her performance, she definitely delivered! She was full of energy. She paused for a little while to take off her enormous gold heels so she could jump around stage properly. She was visibly having a lot of fun on stage, which is great being her first time performing in New York. The band was great too. They had a this depressed, grunge looking harpist who looked like he wanted to be anywhere but there, but whatever.

I was disappointed with some of the audience, which ruined part of the show for me. Some people had absolutely no concert etiquette! It was about halfway through the concert people were clearly intoxicated. The blonde party girls behind Priscilla were spilling tequila all over the place. The worst offenders was a 24 year old I had talked to earlier, who was there with her douchebag boyfriend and came from Pennsylvania. She seemed like a decent person before she started drinking. She managed to give Florence a tequila shot, the Florence readily accepted. I don't know what Florence was thinking: what if that drink was laced with something? Well, the 24 year old was really happy Florence paid attention to her and had someone buy another shot for her. She managed to get the shot and was raising her arm while Florence was performing, urging her to take the shot. When Florence ended the song, she took another shot. A stage manager came on stage and told the 24 year old "That's enough with the drinks. Stop it, okay?" with his awesome British accent. She didn't listen. A security woman makes her way through the dense crowd to warn her to stop or she will be escorted out. Surprisingly enough, she didn't stop after the warnings and tried giving Florence a third drink. By now this girl has squeezed her way between Priscilla and I, pushing everyone to the side. Another girl in a striped dress also was drunk and pushy right next to her. The concert was nearly over and Florence was off the stage. A security guard asked the drunk 24 year old to step outside and refused, again. Another security guy came on stage and nearly pounced on her, pushing her back. Finally, that annoying girl was kicked out! Gah! They left the stripped dress girl, who spilled tequila on the floor and on my shirt. I was very happy when the concert ended at around 10:30pm.

I just wanted to get the hell out of there after the spilling of the drinks and the pushing and my feet hurting. Then again, this is the nature of these general admission, no frills shows. It gets crazy but you have no option but to endure it. I didn't want to push her because she was drunk and might get violent. I don't want to be kicked out!

I've been to other concerts that were standing room shows and the audience was a lot less rowdy. I, for one, do not feel like attending a concert for a while. Until I forget the insanity of the Florence + The Machine concert anyway.

In case you're wondering what songs she sang, Priscilla took a picture of the set list:

 Like I mentioned, I loved "Howl." I didn't like "Blinding" and I didn't like "Ghosts" much either. I'm not sure if that had to do with the fact they are slower songs. "Rabbit Heart" was great too; she had the audience shout "Raise it up!" and raise their hands as she sang. The participation was great. The graphics designer we met kept screaming: "Oh my god! You're fucking retarded! In a good way!" after every song. Florence heard him and said "Oh, I don't know if that's a good thing, but thanks."

If I had to rate this concert, I'm going to give it 3 out of 5 stars. Taking off one star for the drunk girls and another because my bag and my shirt were drenched with liquor. Florence's performance was excellent, but concerts are about the entire experience in my opinion. I suppose if she wasn't any good I would have just walked out in the middle of it.

So that's my review. This is my first concert review so I'm not sure how good this is. Let me know in the comments yes?

A note for Tegan (if she reads this!): we weren't allowed to record sadly that's why there are no videos! Sorry!