Kevin Bronson on April 16th, 2015

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Who: Florence + the Machine on the Main Stage
In 3 or Fewer Words: Exhausted just watching.
Memorable Because: Who knew the real headliner-quality performance of Sunday night would come from this 28-year-old Londoner? Florence Welch gave an exuberant, incredibly athletic performance that found her fronting a huge band (horns, backup singers and all), at full-throttle vocally and racing back and forth across the stage, jumping off several times. (And, as it turns out, she broke her foot in the process. So this Sunday’s reprise of her set might be tamer.) Somehow, the title track to the band’s forthcoming third album “How Big How Blue How Beautiful” lived up to the grandiosity of the moment — Welch not only had her own fans in the hip pocket of her white pantsuit, but those fans awaiting Drake’s set as a captive audience. She also performed “What Kind of Man” and “Ship to Wreck” from the new album, wailed through Calvin Harris’ “Sweet Nothing” and ended in emphatic fashion with “Shake It Out” and “Dog Days Are Over.” Even if you find Florence + the Machine an exercise in excess overall (raises hand), you had to respect the pure physicality of this performance. I needed to sit down.
What I’d Tell My Friends Who Were Sitting Down: Sunday night, right? It was a long three days.
— K.B. (Photos by David Brendan Hall)

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