Monday, 28 June 2010

Florence to the power of X Squared

Moment two came thanks to the combination of The XX and Florence and the Machine. Two bands who've had a lot of hype over the last twelve months.

I've never quite been bitten by the Florence bug, but once I'd finished yawning at the amount of hype round the XX and actually listened to them I was totally in love. I saw them at a Jools Holland play two songs, and then excitingly caught their SXSW set in a Methodist Church in Austin. There the audience was very quiet and polite, at Glasto they couldn't have been more different. This was an audience who was obsessed with the band and stomping, clapping and cheering along at a moments notice.

Even though the band members normally have a very controlled stage presence, the excitement in the John Peel tent for their show meant smiles were trying to break through the serious faces just about cracking at the side of their faces. This felt big.

To close the set they said they were going to play a song they hadn't done live before and the familiar harps from the start of Jamie XX's remix of Flo's 'You've Got The Love' rung out. At first it sounded like Florence's vocals were just being scratched in but then out she came and everything went mental. Candi Staton was on a different stage at the same time. Poor Candi Staton.

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