My thoughts on the first official concert for Ceremonials (in order of performance);
First off, a few things have changed; Florence now has three black gospel back-up singers; you can hear them on most of the YouTube clips that have been posted. I haven't decided if I love them or just like them. Florence can now have a bit more freedom singing because her back-up singers have it down if she wants to go off and riff on something. At times, I found them a bit overpowering, and I would almost have rather had a backing vocal track. But it was the first concert, so perhaps things will be tweaked. Florence, as a fashionista, looked gorgeous, I'll put a picture at the end of the post, but it was amazing, from a distance I thought she was wearing the dress she wore on the cover, and I got so excited, but then it wasn't the dress, but it was still gorgeous. And she had massive heels on.
Only If For A Night; Her opener, it was extremely powerful, with huge banging drums. This one is probably the most commercial of all the new songs she performed. I can see this one doing very well.
What The Water Gave Me; This one I had already heard live in June, the band had made it louder and a bit more gritty; more drums and guitar and less harp. But it was still amazing. At the bridge where Florence goes crazy, I really appreciated the back up singers, because she really went all out!
Heartlines; I think this is the second most commercial sounding song. It was very beautiful, and I really loved the lyrics. Very uplifting, it reminds me of You've Got The Love in that respect, but it isn't really as preachy. Florence really enjoyed performing this one, she was smiling basically the whole time.
Cosmic Love; Amazing, as always.
Never Let Me Go; This was as Florence said, 'another song about drowning'. I thought it was a bit of a slow-burner, but I really enjoyed it. The imagery created by the lyrics on this one was just amazing. Rumour has it, it will be the 2nd single. But no official word yet.
Between Two Lungs; My favorite song from Lungs, I was so glad they performed it. She sounded absolutely superb on it, she glided through it.
Shake It Out; She dedicated this song to NYC, because she says she always gets the worst hangovers, but has the best time! She jazzed this one up a bit from the original, and at times it sounded quite gospelly.
Dog Days Are Over; The song everyone in the audience knew and loved. I thought it was more powerful at her concert in June, but then again it was the finale for that concert.
Spectrum; It started off with an electronic pulsing, and then it grew into kind of a R&B sort of song. It was probably my least favorite of her new songs, but it was still really good. I especially liked the ending (3:28), when she launched back into the chorus.
No Light, No Light; Florence said this was the first song they wrote for Ceremonials. It was absolutely amazing, I think it is the best song that they performed last night. They didn't do the dubstep during the bridge, so I guess we'll have to wait for the album. I'm most excited to hear this one on the album!
I couldn't link any of the pictures, but here's the link to the Flow who uploaded most of the videos and pictures of the concert! http://www.flickr.com/photos/carinacontreras/sets/72157627782038557/with/6249719967/