Florence Welch's ascent to deification as the saviour of indie pop has been well documented. We know that she cornered her now manager Mairead Nash in a club toilet around five years ago to force feed her a rendition of an Etta James song. Given Florence's towering vocal capabilities and the likely acoustics of a glass-and-tile washroom, it is surprising that Nash emerged at all, let alone in a sufficiently lucid state to take command of the Machine and elicit the best of Welch's myriad talents.

Half a decade on, Florence and the Machine are stadium-fillers and have been for three years. 2009's debut long-player, Lungs, spawned killer singles Rabbit Hart and Dog Days Are Over, among others, and epitomised F+tM's broad appeal. Part-indie guitar band, part-chamber pop curio, part-Kate Bush, Florence's theatrical live shows and audacious delivery helped Lungs to global sales of nearly five million copies. Last year's eagerly awaited Ceremonials again topped the UK album chart and has once more seen sales into the millions.

Not long after the Ceremonials tour hollered its last, Welch was quoted as wanting 'a year off' (don't we all) and then, almost just as quickly, claiming she'd written an entire new album 'in her head'. Now, with the new material seemingly insisting on being recorded, Florence and the Machine have announced a new tour for later this year.

The tour kicks off at the Exeter Westpoint Arena on 4th December, followed by arena dates in London(at the O2), Coventry and Aberdeen before the final UK date announced so far at the Liverpool Echo Arena on 10th December. There is an Ireland gig at the Dublin O2 arena on 12th December. Support comes from Californian pop-folk sisterhood Haim.

We will have tickets available from 9am on Friday 14th September, priced from around £30 for the UK shows and from around €40 for Dublin. Florence has quickly become music royalty so expect sales to be very brisk.