Florence and the Machine tour, Alexandra Palace

Flame-haired front-woman Florence Welch may look delicately pre-Raphaelite, but her towering voice is a force of nature. Florence and the Machine stormed into the charts in 2009 with the aptly-titled Lungs, a debut album full of rousing indie anthems and defined by Welch's enormous vocals. Songs like Kiss With a Fist, Dog Days Are Over and a joyous cover of Candi Staton's You Got The Love propelled Florence to the heights of fame.
Now, with a loyal fan base and a clutch of accolades, she's back with a critically adored third album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful. 
Inspired by a well-publicised struggle with addiction and the ravages of fame, the band's album debuted at number 1 in the album chart. Less theatrical than Lungs and 2011's Ceremonials, the record is a subtler, confessional affair: songs like 'Delilah', 'Ship To Wreck' and 'Various Storms & Saints' are allowed to breathe. It is clear that the album comes from a place of pain, and now that the high drama has been stripped-back, we are allowed to feel it too. 
Florence and the Machine London tour, 2015
Booking opens at 9am on 12 June. Be quick: Florence and the Machine tour tickets are set to sell out.