Almost every A+ show makes some sort of comeback. It overcomes a slow start, a slow previous show, unfairly low expectations, or impossibly high ones.
Franz Ferdinand made no such comeback. They got the audience in their crosshairs from minute one (the first song was literally called “Bullet”!) and spent the next 90 minutes taking them out again and again and again. The band’s outfits, accents, vocals, instruments.....everything was irresistibly smooth. It took half the concert for “This Fire” to arrive, but you could feel the heat from the beginning. Girls wanted them; guys wanted to be them; everyone just wanted them to keep playing more songs.
You would think all of this would come off as too slick or self-involved, but it didn’t. It felt natural – like they could not help who they were. It would be like faulting Elvis Presley for not being Elvis Duran, or Usher for not being Urkel. To quote an equally slick stage production, “When you’ve got it, flaunt it.”
And flaunt they did, tearing into 19 songs with urbane abandon. They may have claimed they “hate pop music,” but if there were any justice in the world, they would be bonafide British pop stars.
Quick hits from the show below:
--- Whoa, ZERO vocal dropoff from the album.
--- “Matinee”!!! Love the ninja stage move, the unexpected slowdown, the nine other rhythm changes, the bouncing guy in front of me, and the fact that I have the best view in the whole auditorium -- dead center stage!
--- Nice call-and-response during “No, You Girls,” backup vocal during “Tell Her Tonight,” and guitar solo during “Evil Eye.”
--- Called “Do You Want To?” from the opening strum! Alex Kapranos has started walking through the audience, five feet away! ‘Lucky lucky lucky lucky’ indeed. Everyone has started bouncing. BEDLAM has begun.
--- Huge contrast with “Walk Away.” Slows everything down to a crawl. One audience member whistles in the silence as he does. How is Franz Ferdinand not more well known? They are pros.
--- Hahaha, the lyrics are making this too easy. “Can't Stop Feeling” literally contains the phrases “I feel love,” “so good,” and “I can’t feel anymore.” Killer keyboard too.
--- “Stand on the Horizon” is mediocre -- until the electric orange arrives.
--- Other than the all-too-relatable line “we all lose our keys,” “Brief Encounters” is a letdown.
--- Whoa, “The Fallen” is a tongue twister. I like the la-la-s and the last line.
--- “Take Me Out”!!! Never knew it had a banjo part.
--- “Sweet Love Illumination”!! By far the best song from the new album.
--- “Ulysses”! Don’t ask us to get high; everyone already is. If we're never going home, does that mean the show doesn’t have to end?!
--- “This Fire”!!! Red flames, blue flames, hot white ones – whoa. Slight excess in the middle, but epic / euphoric overall. Worthy of a rollback from Pancho Hernandorena.
--- “Goodbye Lovers and Friends.” Noooo, does that mean this is end? I know you hate pop music, but please, Franz, don't leave us!
--- HA, random compliment: “Thank you, people of DC and Mary-land. We appreciate your high ceilings.”
--- “Jacqueline”!!! Their first song, my first song, so glad they played it! Yes. Darts remains.
--- “Treason! Animals” is trippy – the word ‘narcissist’ is well pronounced.
--- Heh, “Outsiders” ends with a MEGA DRUM SOLO, a la Imagine Dragons. Great minds…
Grade: A+
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