Florence Welch brought her Leeds Festival 2026 headline set to a standstill when she stopped mid-song to order the crowd to do two things. The Friday night main stage saw Florence and The Machine and Chase and Status perform, with audiences erupting for both acts.
Fans even broke into a rendition of Happy Birthday for Welch after she revealed it was her special day. Later in the set, she halted proceedings during Dog Days Are Over – the band's greatest hit, which has amassed over 1.5 billion streams on Spotify – to urge every person at the festival to put their devices away before singling out one fan she had spotted still filming.
Florence's Ritual Request
Florence said: "Leeds Festival. Now, I would love it if we could all do something together. Okay, every single person at this festival, all the way to the back, at the sides, I see you!"
"Now, we're gonna perform a small ritual here. It's hard and it's frightening, but do you trust me? What I would like every single person here to do... is I would like you all to put your phones away."
"And I know, I know it's hard, because you came to this festival and you wanna film this f****g song, I understand!", reports Leeds Live.
Fan Singled Out
She then pointed directly at one fan in the crowd, adding: "I can see a phone there, please put it down, just put it down, 'cause I promise you, filming this song will stop you from experiencing this song, okay?"
"If you want to experience this song with the people that you love, with the people that you came with, with the people that you just met, put your phones down and tell each other that you love each other! Tell each other that you need each other!"
Mixed Reactions Online
Footage of Florence's speech was posted on TikTok, with followers divided over her request. One user wrote: "She done the same in the O2 beginning of the year absolutely brilliant." A second commented: "The fact that she's having to do this." While a third responded: "Wasting time telling people to put their phones down instead of singing another song."
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