Florence + The Machine paints the Proms blood red

Billed as Symphony Of Lungs, the concert was the most in-demand Prom of the 2024 season.

The initial release of tickets in May was snapped up in a matter of hours, and more than 20,000 people joined the online queue for on-the-day tickets, which cost just £8, on Wednesday morning.

The concert marked Florence + The Machine’s only UK show of 2024, in what was supposed to be a year off.

“When [the invitation] came in, they were like, ‘We know you’re off, but would you…?’ and I was like, ‘Yes!’” she told Vogue magazine, external.

The orchestral score was put together over several months of drafts, revisions, and rehearsals, overseen by Jules Buckley, the conductor who’s been charged with “ripping up the Proms’ rulebook”.

Over the past decade, he has staged concerts based on Stevie Wonder and Nick Drake’s music, as well as Proms dedicated to grime and dance music.

He said Florence’s music was especially well-suited to the orchestral treatment.

“You’ve got this incredible virtuosic harp playing, you’ve got a whole swathe of percussion, and you’ve got the harmonic sequences of the songs, which are often very romantic,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme ahead of the concert.

“We’re not planning on making it all dainty and quaint. We’re putting the pedal down.”

He wasn’t exaggerating.