New York, NY (Top40 Charts)
Dance Fever (Live at Madison
Square Garden), a surprise new live album from Florence + the Machine, is out today. Recorded at the band's two sold out Madison
Square Garden shows last month, the album features live versions of tracks from the much-lauded new album Dance Fever - including "Free," "King" and "Dream Girl Evil" - plus classics from throughout the band's career.
Florence says: "For an album that was so much about performance, the possession of it, the love hate relationship with life on the road. And the ensuing grief when I thought it may never happen again. To get out to perform these songs has been the most extraordinary experience. The connection with the audience and the catharsis is at a level I have never experienced before."
"Maybe it's because we all missed it so much. But people are bringing so much of themselves to these shows, I wanted to have a memory of Dance Fever live."
"As a testament to this time, and a full circle moment. For an album so much about the loss of live music. To have a recording of the return means so much to me."
Dance Fever (Live at Madison
Square Garden) will be released on vinyl on April 14, 2023 and is available for pre-order today.
In addition to two nights at MSG, the band has toured arenas across North
America this fall, with two sold at shows at Los Angeles's iconic Hollywood Bowl this weekend. Florence Welch and her band will play dates across the U.K. next month before embarking on a tour of Australia and New Zealand in March 2023.
Dance Fever, released in May, hit #1 in the U.K. and debuted at #1 on Billboard's Top Alternative Albums and Top Rock Albums charts, #2 on Top Album Sales and #7 on the Billboard 200—her fourth consecutive album in the top ten.
Dance Fever continues to receive critical praise:
"Dance Fever is a collection of haunting rock songs that are frothing for release…"—The New York Times
"Over the past decade, Welch has become one of the most assured live performers in music. Her sets feel religious, filled with pop anthems that sound as imposing as age-old hymns, which she sings with her equally imposing voice while sprinting across the stage. That makes Dance Fever an apt name for her new album; that's what her music, at its best, inspires to do."—Vulture
"In an age that favors—often demands—the constant reinvention of its pop stars, there is a reassuring familiarity to Florence Welch…This wry, gently self-mocking sense of humor runs through Dance Fever, which sees Welch return to the euphoric, stadium-sized anthems that defined her earlier career."—Vogue
"On the band's fifth album, she's still chasing her own heroically errant muse down whichever mossy, forked path it might take her...Dance Fever may be Welch's most ecstatically extra work yet... No matter what raw deal the world gives her, this is not an artist who will be settling for less."—Rolling Stone
"Florence Welch's pandemic album turns her intensity inward, interrogating her relationship to performance and public image. These are her most personal lyrics, and among her most poignant."—Pitchfork
"She's long-exhumed the depths of her emotions through the power of booming, bewitching vocals and life-affirming choreography. And that's no different on Dance Fever, an explosive expression of unity in the face of strife and an exuberant expression of hope."—Consequence
"...some of the most captivating [songs] Florence The Machine have made in years, and exist as a hellish rebuke against stillness."—Paste
Dance Fever was recorded in London over the course of the pandemic in anticipation of the world's reopening. It conjures up what Florence missed most in the midst of lockdown—clubs, dancing at festivals, being in the whirl of movement and togetherness—and the hope of reunions to come.
The album that sees Florence at the peak of her powers, coming into a fully realized self-knowledge, poking sly fun at her own self-created persona, playing with ideas of identity, masculinity and femininity, redemption and celebration.
Dance Fever was produced by Florence, Jack Antonoff and Dave Bayley of Glass Animals.
Special thanks to MSG Entertainment and Madison
Square Garden.
DIGITAL TRACKLIST
Heaven Is Here
King
Ship to Wreck
Free
Daffodil
Dog Days Are Over
Girls Against God
Dream Girl Evil
Prayer Factory
Big God
Cassandra
What Kind of Man
Morning Elvis
June
Hunger
Choreomania
Kiss with a Fist
Cosmic Love
My Love
Restraint
The End of Love
Never Let Me Go
Shake It Out
Rabbit Heart
VINYL TRACKLIST
SIDE ONE
1.
Heaven is Here
2. King
3. Ship To Wreck
4. Free
5. Daffodil
SIDE TWO
6. Dog Days Are Over
7. Girls Against God
8.
Dream Girl Evil
9. Cassandra
10. Morning Elvis
SIDE THREE
11. June
12. Choreomania
13. Kiss With A Fist
14. Cosmic Love
15. My Love
16. Restraint
SIDE FOUR
17. The End of Love
18. Never Let Me Go
19. Shake It Out
20. Rabbit
Heart (Raise It Up)
Please note the vinyl includes highlights from the full performances at Madison
Square Garden
FLORENCE + THE MACHINE LIVE
October 14 Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, CA*
October 15 Hollywood Bowl Los Angeles, CA†
*with
Griff and Hope Tala
†with
Wet Leg and Hope Tala
