Although April 21 wasn’t a particularly spring-y New York City night, the flower crowns were out in Manhattan that evening.
At least that’s what my wife, a longtime Florence and the Machine fan (or a Flow if you will), reported after seeing the baroque hitmakers live at Madison Square Garden as part of their ongoing ‘Everybody Scream Tour’ in support of their rapturously-received, recently-released album with the same name.
The show, my wife’s first at MSG, more than lived up to her sky-high expectations.
“Madison Square Garden was shaking,” she told me. “The crowd was pumped. It’s amazing that Florence Welch can crawl and sing and hold a microphone.”
That’s far from all Welch did, though.
Over the course of 21 songs, the Grammy-nominated group electrified, floored and wowed the sold-out Garden.
For a closer look — especially if you’re on the fence about attending the April 24 Barclays Center show or April 25 Boardwalk Hall gig — here are my wife’s takeaways from select highlights of the cathartic concert.
To get the show underway, Welch delivered a stinging rendition of the latest record’s title track “Everybody Scream,” flanked by dancers in long black and white dresses flexing witchy movements.
“I thought that was ironic since the song seems to be about how exhausting performing can be,” my wife mused.
A little later in the show, F+tM rocked their fan favorite hit “Shake It Off,” but in a slightly slower and more inspiring manner than the version we know and love. “It’s lighter than the current album,” she opined.
After kicking her shoes off, the redheaded frontwoman unveiled the haunting, celestial “Seven Devils” from 2011’s “Ceremonials” that “the crowd seemed to love” and then rolled out the intimate epic “Big God” where she “knelt on the stage and sang to the GA crowd.”
Welch upped the ante with the stirring “Daffodils” that my wife described as “very powerful” and saw Florence go out into the general admission area where she “pantomimed killing the backup dancers.”
While that may sound heavy, Welch swerved right after with the bouncy “Which Witch” where she “encouraged everyone to jump.” Cue MSG shaking!
Although, the sonically-gifted and spiritual group didn’t spend much of the evening re-visiting their biggest hits (there was no “You’ve Got The Love,” or “Never Let Me Go”), they did dip into the well for the otherworldly Cosmic Love.”
“It was an inspiring reset that builds,” my wife said. “She hit a really impressive long high note, too.”
Welch got vulnerable shortly after with “You Can Have It All.” She reportedly told the adoring crowd “it’s hard to sing” because of her history with the song and the dancers gave her a hug after she wailed the achingly raw final note.
That energy flowed into “Music By Men,” which “really showed off her vocal range,” my wife added. “One of my favorites. Very poetic.”
For the next track, “Buckle” (which Welch worked on with Mitski), my wife explained that Welch prefaced the song by telling the crowd “it was embarrassing to include this one on the album since it was about someone not texting me back.”
Her confession endeared to my wife who told me “I really liked this one. Lighter than her other songs.”
As she wound the night down, Welch went big with emotion (she was in tears after belting “King”) and theatricality (“Howl” featured “lots of skirt-waving choreography” that reminded my wife of ‘The Crucible’ or ‘John Proctor is the Villain'”).
Before getting to the encore, Florence unleashed the gorgeous “Sympathy Magic.” “A beautiful, hopeful note to end on,” my wife noted. “She shook hands and hugged people in GA.”
Following a short respite, the ensemble returned to much fanfare. The rockin’ “One of the Greats” started the last portion of the gig and sent Welch into GA once again.
Finally, after all this wandering and all this waiting, the fiery audience was was treated to the smash “Dog Days Are Over.” To get into the proper headspace, Welch requested that the Flows “put their phones away so they could take it and dance.”
Dance reigned supreme for the jittery “Free” before Welch mellowed things one last time for the peaceful “And Love” where she repeats the refrain “peace is coming” that she wishes “would come true” before adding “songs are a prayer or spell.”
With that, the lights came up and the restorative show was over. The flower crowns emerged back into the New York City night, standing out as a rare bright spot on that dreary, dreadfully cold evening flowing into the crowd.
A complete calendar including all remaining North American tour dates, venues and links to buy tickets can be found below.
According to Set List FM, here’s what Florence and the Machine took to the stage at MSG on April 21.
01.) “Everybody Scream”
02.) “Witch Dance”
03.) “Shake It Out”
04.) “Seven Devils”
05.) “Big God”
06.) “Daffodil”
07.) “Which Witch”
08.) “Cosmic Love”
09.) “Spectrum”
10.) “You Can Have It All”
11.) “Music by Men”
12.) “Buckle”
13.) “King”
14.) “The Old Religion”
15.) “Howl”
16.) “Heaven Is Here”
17.) “Sympathy Magic”
Encore
18.) “One of the Greats” (with Mark Bowen)
19.) “Dog Days Are Over”
20.) “Free”
21.) “And Love”
On Oct. 31, Florence and the Machine unveiled their vital sixth studio album “Everybody Scream.”
The title track, “Everybody Scream,” which also kicks off the 12-track record, starts mysteriously with a haunting, ghostlike marriage of unnerving yet magical vocals and instruments until the band blows it all up all at once with defiant electric guitar and primal, unguarded screams. From there, the song finds a more straightforward groove yet never wavers from its impassioned ferocity as evidenced by unforgettable, piercing lyrics like “the witchcraft, the medicine, the spells, and the injections/The harvest, the needle, protect me from evil/The magic and the misery, madness and the mystery/Oh, what has it done to me? Everybody scream.” This one isn’t just a keeper. It’s an all-timer.
Right after, FatM dive into the slow burn, tongue-in-cheek “One Of The Greats” that Florence described as a “lunatic, enormous, poem-rant-joke thing” to The Guardian. The song is likely referred to as a “joke” because Welch comes quite hard at male rockers with a lacerating intensity. Although she may toss off the song as a gag, lines like “It must be nice to be a man and make boring music just because you can” and “It’s funny how men don’t find power that sexy/So this one’s for the ladies” cut through the noise and bring up a very real double standard in rock.
They refuse to let up from there. The tribal, plucky “Witch Dance” comes next and waffles between effortlessly light instrumentals that will make you feel like running, running, running while Welch’s crushing vocals slow you down like sinking in quicksand.
Up fourth, “Sympathy Magic,” a lilting, gentle piece, discovers a real urgency one minute into its runtime and refuses to let up. The strings and piano reach a fever pitch and, as always, Welch’s immortal voice reaches impossible, sustained high notes.
While there’s no filler later on, we recommend seeking out the lovely, understated “Perfume and Milk,” surprisingly celestial “Kraken” and symphonic coda “And Love” that melds the harp with synthesizers to create an unlikely auditory cohesion. What an absolute treat.
To hear the sumptuous record for yourself, you can find “Everybody Scream” here.
At all ‘Everybody Scream’ concerts, Florence and the Machine will be joined by a special guest or two. To make sure you’re up to speed on their respective sounds, here’s each artist’s most-streamed song on Spotify.
Rachel Chinouriri: “All I Ever Asked”
Sofia Isella: “Hot Gum”
CMAT: “Take A Sexy Picture Of Me”
Mannequin Pussy: “Romantic”
Although not many artists can match Florence and the Machine’s unbridled passion and ferocity onstage, here are five of our favorites with similar sensibilities that will be on the road these next few months.
• Rosalía
Who else is delivering showstopping performances to the people?
Great question.
We suggest taking a look at our list of all the biggest artists on tour in 2026 to find the show that makes the most sense for you.
This article was written by Matt Levy, New York Post live events reporter. Levy stays up-to-date on all the latest tour announcements from your favorite musical artists and comedians, as well as Broadway openings, sporting events and more live shows – and finds great ticket prices online. Since he started his tenure at the Post in 2022, Levy has reviewed a Bruce Springsteen concert and interviewed Melissa Villaseñor of SNL fame, to name a few. Please note that deals can expire, and all prices are subject to change.
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