In a night of mixed feelings, Stephen Steps Lowe tries to capture the best of Franz Ferdinand's return to Luxembourg in a series of vignettes as they occurred to him, moment by moment.
The Prep
I have not listened to Franz Ferdinand in years. And I mean years. I have played new single Curious a number of times on RTL Today Radio, sure but I have not 'listened' listened. I turned off FF some way around 2009. I had just had enough of them. Take Me Out was still everywhere and I had, had my fill.
Goodness only knows what Kapranos and co. must have felt like, even with all the readies pouring into the bank accounts. So, a trip to a gig where the hits were to be played back to back, as it were, was not one that filled me with huge amounts of optimism. I would be proved both wrong and right throughout what was a rollicking, if overlong show.
Further reading - Sam Steen's interview with Alex Kapranos
Confusion abound
There are three gigs taking place at when we arrive at Rockhal on Thursday 14 April, Franz Ferdinand, obviously, which explains the feathered fringes. Luxembourg legends Schëppe Siwen are playing the club, which explains the denim and sew on patches. Baboon are somewhere around too. Which explains the multiple ticket desks. It is a little disorientating to be fair and the multi lines of punters are intermingled with good-natured fans of ALL THE GENRES.
This band are pretty good
The Netherlands band Pip Blom (interview on the way) take to the stage with the sort of energy usually reserved for summer fetes, or the opening of a new community centre. Then they strap up, plug in and a sorta, kinda, magic thing happens. Discordant guitars clash with thunderous drums. Pip's higher scale vocals skipping lightly across powerful rips and playful time signatures. Gini, an absolute dynamo on the kit, is a furious whirl of perpetual motion. Tender is anything as his name suggests, whipping and ripping his guitar at nipple chaffing height - there must be a deal being brokered with Sudocrem. Meanwhile, Dareck plays bass AND controls the snyths with. his. feet. Pip Blom stick to just a half dozen tracks, most from 2021 album Welcome Break, but once their 30 mins stage time is up, cuts such as Different Tune and I Know I Am Not easy To Like have won over a fair portion of the growing crowd.
The dawning
It was not until three songs in until it hit me (see what I have done there?), that this was the first gig...proper gig (no offence meant to Damon Albarn at the Phil) that I had been to since the start...or are we calling this the pseudo end of the pandemic? And I am a little anxious. Some are wearing masks. Others have them wrapped around their wrists. Like an ASBO tag, but more polite and easier to wear with sandals. It is that kind of night.
The sink splash
I make a dash for the loo before the gig starts, because, well, AGE. And am greeted by dozens of Ferdinand Tour Tees spraying urine all over the place. These chaps are hard-wearing fans. They've the look of being out on the forecourt all afternoon and are well-oiled for the evening. The sink does me no favours at all by redirecting the tap jets straight unto my groin, and it's back to the main hall I go, with a handy hip wrap of my jacket.
And what of the music
There's not a lot that can be said that is new in regards to Franz Ferdinand. First, this is a best of tour, so it's not new music. Second, FF have been around the block many times. They know a thing or two about performance. Still, Kapranos has to work the crowd to get the (ill)timed hand claps. He has to wait for the audience to catch on that he wants the lyrics sung back at him. He mentions needing his ego massaged. He knows what he is doing. With every snake hipped shimmy and coy eyebrow raise. And an oddly US-leaning tilt to his Scotts brogue.
The nonstop non coin operated dance machine
The lady in front of us (us being myself and my brother-in-law, Neil) has had itching powder in her clothes, or is on performance-enhancements, or has a medical condition where she cannot stop moving, or she simply LOVES this band. She even dances when Alex tells the crowd that this is first show of the tour. I think, think she was dancing to the sound of an empty Diekirch cup blowing across the forecourt later in the evening.
False start
For all the technical prowess and the tightly wound grooves on Dark Of The Matinee, Darts Of Pleasure, This Fire and Do You Want To, there are the niggles of first night nerves. Alex loses sound on his monitor, and while the band do not drop a beat, he ad-libs his way through the fix and we are back to business as usual on The Fallen.
Bellies and faded tee shirts
Yep, there's a fair amount of bellies pushing the buttons of the shirts and too tight tee shirts, and as folk bounce and bump, so does this flesh. It is part of the reason I skulk in the shadows, enjoying things away from a flash of the ugly lights that blaze from the stage during Love Illumination and the double narrative lyricism of No You Girls.
The talky couple
These are a blight on any show. Anywhere. But they are at every single one. They need be married. Together. Of same gender (identified or otherwise) but they natter through all the quieter bits. As if their energy, much like our dancing lass, is derived from feeding off the frowns of others. But during the build up of Evil Eye it is a teensy, tiny bit rage inducing. Do one, or rather two, and get knotted.
The aching back
Franz Ferdinand have loads, LOADS of hits, and it means a lot of standing. It means my back hurts. 5-a-side the night before was, in hindsight, a bad idea. But it means I am waiting for...
The SONG
Yep, it is what 78% of the audience are here for and Alex intros it with an extended riff, and there's a noticeable change in the air. For many Take Me Out is the quintessential Ferdinand track and it has not been aired LIVE and PROPER for a good while. It is as good as you remember it. But...
The Thinning
No joke, at least a third of the audience simply down tools and leave as soon as the squall signals the end of the track.
To sum up, then, Franz Ferdinand in 2022 are exactly as you expect them to be. There's no real pretense, save for that American drawl, and they let the hits do the talking - even if the set list could have been shaved of a track or two.
