Review: Florence and the Machine casts a spell in cathartic performance

It’s wisely been said that if you give a woman pain, she’ll turn it into power. For Florence Welch, she’s also turned it into one of the most cathartic albums and concerts of the year.

It was evident as the British songbird returned to the Chicago area Friday night to unfurl the layered compositions on the 2025 opus, “Everybody Scream,” which explores the extent of feminine strength and human determination.

Released on Halloween, the record details Welch’s own personal tragedy and the journey to find her way back from the abyss after suffering a devastating miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy in 2023 that necessitated emergency surgery to save her life. The impact was so profound that it netted a full album as well as tour partnerships with Planned Parenthood and Doctors Without Borders to provide critical medical care to others around the world.

With this magnitude, what unfolded at the Allstate Arena Friday wasn’t exactly a concert, but more of a ritual where collective trauma and suffering were exorcised in a type of release that normally would’ve cost a lot more money in therapy than the price of admission.

“Whatever you’ve been through or whatever you’re going through, know that I’m with you,” Welch said at the top of the show to set the tone for the passionate crowd, many of whom came dressed in Welch-approved flower crowns, boho skirts and shawls and clung to her every word.

If it all sounds witchy and mystical and new agey, it was — and it was beautiful. For two hours, Welch summoned something deep inside the human psyche as she was joined in sound and fury by her incredible backing band, the Machine, that added violins and harp to the baroque score in addition to saxophone, drums and keys. Not to mention a devoted coven of Lizzie Borden-looking backing dancers/actors who performed like they were possessed as they contorted their bodies and succumbed to Welch’s whims when she beckoned them.

For years, Welch has been hailed as a descendant of Stevie Nicks and Kate Bush for her witchy romanticism, and she has embraced that persona in her new era, where she plays with the concept of witchcraft as a means to unlock personal power and connect to Mother Earth for answers. For Welch, studying this connection over the past few years became a lifesaver. At its core, “Everybody Scream” challenges the idea that women are too “emotional” and proffers that we’d all feel a lot better if we just let it out once in a while. Many did so on Welch’s cue during the opening song, and it produced an eerie calm that blanketed the arena the rest of the night.

“Everybody Scream” is not an easy album to unpack and Welch did so delicately throughout the night as she sang about gods and devils, moons and stars and the cosmic connection of creating life and losing it. The most heartbreaking moment came on “You Can Have It All” — recently added to the North American set list as Welch gets more comfortable singing lyrics about the “vision of my daughter” and wonders, “Am I a woman now?” after her experience.

“This next song is a very hard song to sing, but it feels very important to sing it here,” she said to preface the performance, which featured her strongest vocal delivery of the night.

“Sympathy Magic” was another turning point as Welch used the moment to immerse herself in the crowd, delivering the song’s lyrics — “come on, I can take it, give me everything you got, what else, what else, what else” — directly to people in the front row who were visibly emotional as they took her message to heart.

To emphasize that no one is in the dark alone, Welch bade everyone to join together in letting it all out in a physically moving performance of “Dog Days Are Over” before purposely ending the set with the new song “And Love,” where she assures “peace is coming.”

“When I was writing this album, one of my darker records, I wanted to write a song that, if songs are spells or prayers or prophecies, let this be the one that comes true,” she shared in her final summon. “Let this be the one that is realized, not just for me but for all of you here and for the whole world. I know that seems impossible, but maybe if we can sing it together, we can believe it to be true.”

Set list for Florence and the Machine April 10, 2026 show at Allstate Arena

Everybody Scream
Witch Dance
Shake It Out
Seven Devils
Big God
Daffodil
Which Witch
Cosmic Love
Spectrum
You Can Have It All
Music by Men
Buckle
King
The Old Religion
Howl
Heaven Is Here
Sympathy Magic

Encore:
One of the Greats
Dog Days Are Over
Free
And Love