Florence and the Machine fire up Unplugged
British singer and band first of eight new episodes
Florence and the Machine kick off MTV’S new season of Unplugged with a show that singer Florence Welch called “amazing” as her powerful voice belted out hit songs like Dog Days Are Over in a candlelit room.
The soulful British singer and her backing band taped their Unplugged concert in New York’s oldest synagogue building back in December to become the first of eight episodes airing across MTV and sister networks Vh1 and CMT. The Civil Wars and Dierks Bentley also are slated to perform during the new season.
MTV debuted its Emmy-winning Unplugged series in 1989, and it became an instant hit by taking singers and bands typically associated with big sounding pop music and stripping them down to basic, acoustic instruments and vocals. Over the years, the show has featured performances from popular artists including Mariah Carey, Eric Clapton, Nirvana and Jay-z on intimate, often unconventional stages.
Backed by a 10-person choir, the Voices of Rivers, Welch performed fan favourites such as Drumming Song from her group’s 2009 debut Lungs, as well as the single Never Let Me Go from her most recent record, Ceremonials.
Queens of the Stone Age’s Josh Homme joined Welch for a cover of Jackson, most famously sung by Johnny Cash and June Carter. Welch also covered Try a Little Tenderness. Kanye West, who attended the taping with fellow rap- per Q-tip, sampled Otis Redding’s version of the song on Watch the Throne, his 2011 album with Jay-z.
Welch said she was in awe of the former synagogue in which she and the Machine played and where the stage was decorated with dozens of candles. “I had to stop myself after every song,” Welch told Reuters. “I would be like, ‘Wow.’
“It was so amazing performing the songs stripped back and just really being able to concentrate on the songs and the emotions.”
During the show, the singer told the live audience: “This is a real moment for me and to be doing an Unplugged session is amazing.”
Van Toffler, president of Viacom’s Music and Logo Group, said MTV and its networks carefully select the artists they invite to perform, and self-promotion, even by big-name acts, is no guarantee of a spot on the show.
“We get lobbied by a bunch of artists,” Toffler said. “We’re quite selective about who ultimately gets to do an Unplugged.”
Unplugged’s stripped-down approach suits the hard-to-classify, Grammy-winning folk duo the Civil Wars, who will appear on Vh1’s Unplugged in May.
“We’re kind of tailor-made for that,” said the group’s John Paul White.
“We’re already unplugged!” laughed his partner Joy Williams, who will be seven months pregnant when she tapes their episode of Unplugged slated for May.
“Growing up with the show, it’s a strange full circle thing,” White said. “We were talking about how big those Unplugged shows were for us, to see our favourite artists in a different, more humanizing light.”
Last year Unplugged expanded to include CMT, opening the series to country artists. Dierks Bentley, whose single Home is nominated for Song of the Year at Sunday’s Academy of Country Music Awards, will follow the Civil Wars, with an episode of CMT Unplugged to air this spring.