When the curtain lifted to the empowering drum beat of Patrick Wolf's 'Overture', heads buoyed and hearts bowed in long-awaited familiarity. The weighted strings which wrapped around the anticipation-filled lungs of The London Palladium's guests, were suddenly severed free with the first howl and a rupturing applause.Tonight, wide-eyed in their seats, a theater of dreamers came to hear the words of their enduring romance play out in one man's most triumphant show to date. Patrick Wolf's music is more than just a stage ticket, it's an incredible journey through the barbs of adulthood which he's learned to share with us more and more since, well, since nostalgia can recall your first shiny lycanthropic lovebite…

Stage lights fall to shadows under a tinder-lit grin and flashing command of boyish blonde hair, as Patrick, joined by his very own live orchestra, governs the large stage in a catwalk of flamboyant outfits and unstitched emotions. One minute, our cloaked hero is falling fearlessly on all-fours; stricken by the anchoring sincerity of 'Oblivion' and current single'Damaris' the next, he's stood statuesque and dripping with glitter in front of a cosmic pink backdrop, posing on a revolving podium for 'Vulture', and looking like a sex-sodden galactic Peter Pan.

However, before Patrick's entrance tonight, a certain rumour had already been excitedly scratching at the auditorium walls, the name of who might be his second special guest in replace of the absent (unfortunately ill) Marc Almond. Halfway through the set, the answer came floating across the stage in a spire of milk and marmalade, as the renowned phoenix-haired Florence Welch (of 'Florence and The Machine') joined Patrick for a spellbinding rendition of album title-track 'The Bachelor'. Witnessing these two young London artists performing together on one iconic stage, felt a treasured moment in history; like two howling mouths coming together in a kiss which shared the promise of an inspired future for British music. The electronic hands of Alec Empire also worked their white-hot wizardry on songs like 'Battle' and hard-paced anthem 'Hard Times', adding an extra row of teeth to the more cutting songs which featured in the set.

There's definitely no danger in saying that Patrick has grown more and more confident with every performance he's given to this point, as we sit tonight, watching him climbing into his “happy place” through a burrow of smiling acclamation and boys and girls dancing feverishly in the aisles. He's never looked more at rest with himself and for that reason, as much as the night is his, it's ours too. For a man whose music has never known any one home, he makes his audience his castle and it's after a show like tonight that we realise how much we need the cheerful and majestic rule of the Wolf.

Words: Barnaby Thornton
Photography: Burak Cingi