Girlhood, Live in Concert: Florence + the Machine

It might be the 21^st century for the rest of the world, but inside Seattle's Climate Pledge Arena on Tuesday, anyone could’ve told you you’d gone back in time to the Victorian era and you wouldn’t have batted an eye. Twenty years into her career, Florence Welch of Florence + the Machine is still going strong, filling venues, and inspiring thousands of women.

Gretchen Reed (left) and Caitlin McGuire (right)

Caitlin McGuire, a fan since the start of Florence’s career, tells me about her first experience seeing Florence live in concert with her friend Gretchen Reed, “This is 2010 New York City… We’re nineteen… [Gretchen’s] older sister gets us tickets to see Florence at Terminal 5… We both have school the next day, we’re like, in college [and it's finals week]… we went to school in Syracuse, we drive down to the city… we’re, like, fifth row. Florence is in this flowing incredible amazing dress, we feel like we’re in church, it’s such an intimate venue.” They took the last bus out of the city after the show, stole a cab from someone, and slept for two hours before they took their finals. Caitlin describes the night as “solidified sisterhood and best-friend-dom” for her and Gretchen. It remains one of her favorite concerts she’s ever attended.

“I got Lungs for Christmas the year it came out, and it’s been on repeat ever since” another longtime fan, Amy Grimm, informs me. She goes deeper, “Lungs came out when I was 27 and going through a divorce. Each album has hit very specific connection points as I’ve aged, and now, solidly in my 40s, this last album has given a voice to some of the themes I’ve been navigating. It’s like having a guide.”

Amy's friend Carson St. Clair adds, “I think as I’ve gotten older… I’ve realized there’s a lot of rage in that music that I feel, like, gutturally.”

Amy Grimm (left) and Carson St. Clair (right)

This statement about rage in music ties into a more widespread aspect of girlhood. Amy, Carson and I briefly touch on being fans of Sofia Isella and Paris Paloma (read my article from last year about Sofia Isella here). Both are female artists in their twenties who have cited Florence as a big influence on their work. Sofia opened for Florence on earlier shows of the Everybody Scream Tour. As my mom and I watched the show progress, I whispered to her that it completely checks out that Sofia was involved in the tour. Paris and Sofia, who have performed together in the past, are both most known for their songs about misogyny. Paris blew up with the 2023 track “Labour”, in which she vents, “You make me do too much labour/all day, every day, therapist, mother, maid/nymph, then a virgin, nurse, then a servant”. Sofia is well-known for “The Doll People” (2024) and “Everybody Supports Women” (2023). In the former track, she sings, “We are wife, whore, mistress, maid, mother/the beauty and the buyer take the screaming one because a woman who doesn’t want it is much hotter than one that does.”

In a more visual sense, Sofia has talked a lot about how she tries to look less like the feminine ideal in her performances. She often dons the stage covered in dirt with her hair a mess, and switches between wearing an extremely baggy shirt and a skimpy tank top throughout the show. Similarly, Florence took the stage with seemingly no makeup. Her dancers portrayed themselves, through both movement and makeup, to look terrifying. Sofia has received backlash and been called demonic for her art, and Florence has likely received similar messages based on the theme of witchcraft in her work and performances.

Florence Welch (left) and Sofia Isella (right)

However, all of these artists also show beautiful displays of joy and love. Multiple times throughout the show, Florence broke character and allowed her eyes to water as she smiled at the crowd. Before her encore, she exited the arena singing “Sympathy Magic” a cappella, holding the hands of those at barricade, even hugging a couple people. Sofia does a similar thing during her shows as she sings “All of Human Knowledge Made Us Dumb”.

While some may have left Florence’s show feeling scared by all the dark visuals, I felt as if the show was the healthiest display of rage that I’ve seen in a moment. Why are people so fixated on presenting anger in a digestible way? Of course, there are contexts in which it should be presented as such, but what Florence expresses is so much bigger than a one-on-one argument. Caitlin McGuire adds on to her earlier points, “Florence is… [me and Gretchen’s] age, neither of us have children, by choice… a lot of her songs are about the grief of her miscarriage… I think this alchemizing of, like, feminine rage, and also, that women need to fit into, like, singular dimensionality when we’re so, like, multifaceted… [is part of why] Florence is an inspiration and a heroine.”

Listen to Everybody Scream here.

Florence Welch performing