May 4, 2010 9:05

Florence And The Machine kick off 'Cosmic Love' tour in Dublin

Florence Welch and her band play two Olympia Theatre shows

Photo Gallery: Florence And The Machine
Photo: Lili Fouberg

Florence And The Machine began the European leg of their 'Cosmic Love' tour with two sold-out shows at the Olympia Theatre, Dublin over the Bank Holiday weekend (May 2 and 3).

Frontwoman Florence Welch, dressed all in white, started last night's show with 'Howl' before blasting through 'My Boy Builds Coffins', 'Girl With One Eye' and 'Between Two Lungs' in quick succession.

'Drumming Song' was received with a chorus of claps from the crowd, while 'Blinding' featured Welch wearing a shawl over her head and lit by strobe lights.

After 'I'm Not Calling You a Liar', the singer introduced her newly-established string section and played 'Swimming', saying: "We could never play that song in the past because we couldn't afford a string quartet."

After performing 'Cosmic Love' she got the crowd to sing 'Happy Birthday' to drummer Chris Hayden's dad Lloyd, who travelled over from the UK especially for the occasion. Next up was the previously-unheard new song 'Strangeness And Charm', which the singer had described as "about seven minutes long and pretty relentless".

The band closed the set with the singles 'You've Got the Love' and 'Dog Days Are Over' before returning for an encore of 'Kiss With A Fist' and 'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)'. Welch spent the final five minutes of the show taking fake flowers from her stage set and throwing them into the crowd.

The tour continues tomorrow in Edinburgh.

Florence And The Machine played:

'Howl'
'My Boy Builds Coffins'
'Girl With One Eye'
'Drumming Song'
'Blinding'
'I'm Not Calling you a Liar'
'Swimming'
'Cosmic Love'
'Strangeness And Charm'
'You've Got the Love'
'Dog Days Are Over'
'Kiss With A Fist'
'Rabbit Heart (Raise It Up)'