Video: Florence Welch Sang For A Large Audience Of One

By R. Siva Kumar - 23 May '16 07:39AM

Florence Welch held a private concert for her 15-year-old fan in Austin, Texas. The girl had not been able to get up and attend Welch's show on the previous night, as she had been too ill to leave her hospice room.

The girl's mom, Catherine Chen, posted a video on Instagram Friday night, writing, "@florence of #Florence&TheMachine is such a beautiful and kind soul!! She brought so much joy to all of us today. What a Blessing!!"

In another post and photograph from her performance, Chen wrote, "@florence Of #florenceandthemachine Is not only an awesome artist but an even more amazing human being!! She made my sweet pea so happy today."

The performance itself was incredibly beautiful, "so much joyous music and singing and tears" - and a beautiful harmony, as the victim too sang along, said Christie Kramer, a nurse practitioner at Hospice Austin. She too shared the story of Welch's performance and how it came together:

"We have a patient who held long cherished tickets to see Florence and The Machine last night with her BFF. All week through set back after set back she asked if she would be able to go.

"We tried to entertain the idea and it felt so scary and overwhelming for the medical staff and her mother that finally I said no, and my heart broke again."

"And then," Kramer continued, "through a remarkable team effort on the part of Christopher House and Hospice Austin Staff, we were able to make contact with Florence. My patient's mom was so nervous- will she really come? Is she here yet? She kept popping out of the room and checking.

"And Florence came. And her mom burst into tears of joy at the sight of her and Florence gave her a big hug. "

The 29-year-old sang in a room "stuffed to the gills with teen friends," Kramer wrote. However, she sang for just one person.

In a couple of clips from the show that was posted by Hospice Austin, Welch, and the girl sang "Shake It Out" and "Dog Days Are Over" with guitarist Rob Ackroyd, even as Welch held her hand.

At some split second, Welch exclaimed: "Such a good harmony!"

"There were shrieks and squeals and so much joyous music and singing and tears and tears and tears of grief and joy and hope and love and utter devastation," Kramer wrote, "and somehow simple kindness made everything better."