Florence Welch Vows To Finish Tour Following Life-Saving Surgery

Florence Welch has opened up about the recent cancellation of some European tour dates, revealing she underwent a life-saving emergency surgery.

Last week, it was announced that Florence + The Machine would no longer appear at two festivals – Zürich Openair and Rock en Seine – due to “medical advice”. Many fans assumed it related to an incident that occurred in London last November, when Welch broke her foot onstage during a concert. But as the artist confirmed in a new post on Instagram, that isn’t the case.

“I'm so sorry that I had to cancel the last couple of shows,” she wrote. “My feet are fine, I had to have emergency surgery for reasons I don't really feel strong enough to go into yet, but it saved my life. And I will be back to close out the Dance Fever tour in [Lisboa] and [Málaga]. (Maybe not jumping so much but you can do that for me).

“Suffice to say I wish the songs were less accurate in their predictions. But creativity is a way of coping, mythology is way of making sense. And the dark fairytale of Dance Fever, with all its strange prophecies, will provide me with much needed strength and catharsis right now.”

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At the time of writing, Florence + The Machine have two concerts on the calendar for the remainder of 2023, being their shows in Lisboa, Portugal and Málaga, Spain this Friday (September 1) and Saturday (September 2), respectively.

Dance Fever, Florence + The Machine’s fifth studio album, arrived last May via Polydor. She toured the record Down Under in March of this year, performing a suite of headline shows as well as festival dates for A Day On The Green WOMADelaide. Reviewing the latter for The Music, Melissa Griffin wrote: “The lights and stage setting work to uphold the mythical, diaphanous status [Welch] has built up, her mortality only slipping through as she stops to take a drink of water.”