‘Never Let Me Go’: the song Florence Welch once vowed never to perform again
Every artist has a unique set of emotions attributed to their songs, a sentiment which often differs from the feelings of their most loyal fans. Take Florence Welch, for example, the lead singer of Florence and The Machine, who refrained from performing a fan favourite track for an entire decade.
For Welch, ‘Never Let Me Go’ was a reminder of a difficult period in her life, and performing the song live brought back memories of a traumatic time. The decision to omit the effort from the group’s setlist wasn’t because the singer had fallen out of love with the material, but instead because it was a reminder of a difficult period.
The song was featured on Florence and The Machine’s second album, Ceremonials. Despite the track being blacklisted from setlists, it was selected as a single and is arguably the record’s stand-out moment. ‘Never Let Me Go’ was first introduced as part of the band’s setlist in 2011, and it remained a constant during the Ceremonials world tour. However, after the first date of a US tour in Mansfield, Massachusetts, Welch decided she never wanted to play the track again.
Then, almost a decade later, when Florence took to the stage in April 2022 at the O2 City Hall in Newcastle for an intimate performance, ‘Never Let Me Go’ was surprisingly reintroduced to the setlist. Since then, the track has retained its place and unexpectedly become a permanent fixture.
Later, Welch spoke to Vulture about her complex relationship with the song, stating: “There was a song called ‘Never Let Me Go’ from Ceremonials that I really rejected for a really long time, and we didn’t play it for ten years. I was in such a bad place when I wrote it. I just thought, ‘Fuck it. I’m going to get this song out and I’ll never have to engage with this moment again’. It’s another one that’s really technically hard to sing, but it became this fan favourite. Always happens like this — all of the ones that I’m like, ‘Oh, terrible fucking place’.”
Welch elaborated: “Especially as a female artist who makes really big music with big feelings, you can start to feel like you’re not being taken seriously. You can take on what maybe less generous music press will say, like, ‘Oh, another big-feelings song about water. There she goes again’. You come out when you are young with so much confidence, and you’re so excited to make music, and over time you can take on what people say about you, and it can grate away at your self-esteem.”
She added: “I wanted to reassess songs that I’d written when I wasn’t in a good place or I felt like I was too emotional. I started singing ‘Never Let Me Go’ again, and they sang the chorus of ‘Never Let Me Go’ at me and just — I’m going to cry. It’s really healing for me because it’s really healing for that person that I was. It’s really helped me come back to myself. They just sing the chorus for me; I don’t even have to sing it.”
Watch the footage below of Florence and The Machine performing ‘Never Let Me Go’ live at London’s O2 Arena in 2023 below.
