Florence + the Machine

Last night I took my two elder girls to see Florence + the Machine play at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl. We just had general admission lawn tickets, but as ever at the Bowl, the sound quality was fantastic.

I'd promised the girls I would take them to see Florence the next time she came to Australia. They are both such fans, as am I.

They have been to music shows before - I took them both to Cyndi Lauper in 2013, and I took the elder to Indigo Girls in 2012, while their Dad took them both to see Angus and Julia Stone earlier this year - but this was their first outdoor event, and their first time going to see an artist that they had actively campaigned to see. (The other concerts, while they enjoyed them a lot, were suggested by me, rather than importuned for by them!)

I wondered how the late night and massive crowd would work out for them, but they were both quite resilient to the conditions (well, after we moved away from the group of 6 hipsters chain-smoking right next to us, despite the prominently displayed No Smoking signs RIGHT BEHIND OUR HEADS.)

The eldest insisted on going off to the loos by herself as needed - which was a bit of a challenge for my overprotective instincts when it got dark, but I squashed my urge to restrict her. The 10-year-old got sleepy at one point so, without fanfare, lay down on our picnic rug and had a 15-minute kip, waking up as bright as a button to dance to the next song. Overall, their ability to handle themselves was admirably high.

Florence played a fantastic set, opening and closing with two of our favourites. She closed with Dog Days are Over, arguably her most famous song of all, which brought the house down, but she opened with one I like even better ... this one.



The girls sang along, ate the chicken and rice we'd brought for a picnic dinner, and loved the Nutella crepes I treated them to for dessert. I even cracked and bought them a t-shirt each, despite being slightly appalled at the price (when DID merch become so horrifically expensive)?

It was a good night. I enjoyed the show, but I enjoyed the opportunity to be out with them even more. It won't be many years at all that they'll want my company at things like this; I want to soak that up while I can.

This is post 12 in NaBloPoMo. 12 down, 18 to go!