Words and Photo By Alex McFerren
After an electric set from the support act Home Counties, Franz Ferdinand emerge on to the stage donned in snazzy suits. Not what you would expect from the rough and ready indie Glaswegian outfit. They waste no time getting to the good stuff, bursting straight into ‘The Dark Of The Matinee’, which the crowd instantly love. The energy stays high with another classic, ‘The Fallen’, which keeps the atmosphere jolted. The band then run through ‘Walk Away’ – with the crowd singing the chorus back to Alex Kapranos and ‘Audacious’, track from the band’s latest album The Human Fear, and it seems the crowd have gotten to grips with the tune already. The beginning of ‘Do You Want to’ sparks a huge cheer from the crowd, as if this is one of the ones they’ve been waiting for, and in all fairness it is a classic tune from the band. The movement from Kapranos so far has been brilliant, for a guy who is 53 he moves like he’s still in his prime.
The upbeat tempo continues with more first album classics – the goofy ‘Michael’ is always a fun track, followed by ‘40’’ which has a bit more of a sinister undertone with its lyrics (“Cooling all the blood to slush”), but the crowd certainly had fun with singing the ‘la la’ sections. Another one of the new tracks is up next – ‘Build It Up’ – a bouncy number and the energy stays high. ‘Love Illumination’ is where things start to pick up even more, the synth from Julian Corrie is so catchy and the duelling guitars from Dino Bardot and Kapranos is a joy to watch. The stage lights match Corrie’s synth solo, bright and colourful. One of the best parts of the set so far.
The big one. The hit everyone knows. The soundtrack to so many nights out. It’s on every indie Spotify playlist (including mine). But before we can get to that, Kapranos takes a moment to say who nice it is that the entire audience hasn’t been using their phones and living in the moment, he then says to keep living in the moment and go “F**ING MENTAAALLLLLLLL”. What a way to start ‘Take Me Out’. I think it’s safe to say the noise caused by the crowd during the iconic tune was enough to take the roof off the 02 Academy. It is by far the best track on the set list so far, and there’s no shame in your biggest hit being the best. And if you thought the party was over, think again. The next track, ‘Hooked’, just keeps the bpm up, sounding almost disco rock. The band do not want you to be standing still. The stage lights make you feel like you’re in a rave somewhere in Glasgow…
Once the encore begins, ‘Night And Day’, another new track, is played to an audience that is hungry for more. ‘No You Girls’ goes down very well – the crowd has known the track for long enough to sing back the chorus on command, brilliant stuff. Then ‘Evil Eye’ is played, and to end the track, Audrey Tait delivers a great drum solo, with the other four members hitting the cymbals with her. Now that’s teamwork.
The Finale is a spectacle. ‘This Fire’ burns the house down, each member being introduced into the song by Kapranos, until he finally gets to himself and repeats the ‘let’s go f**king mental’ line before bursting into that iconic riff the song is known for. Bardot and Kapranos both duel guitars again, only this time it seems to burn through the rest of the song, and it is truly epic.
And with that, Franz Ferdinand have still got it just a mere 22 years after their self-titled debut album. They were nothing if not exceptional at the 02 Academy in Birmingham this evening, and so were the crowd.
Until next time, Archduke.
