Music
Franz Ferdinand, O2 Academy, Glasgow
Jonathan Geddes
****
THE line-up might have changed but the core mission of Franz Ferdinand appears unaltered. This homecoming show seemed devoted to making people dance as much as possible, just as they set out to do years ago, when they emerged as one of Britain’s brightest and artiest hopes in the wave of guitar bands that appeared following the Strokes.
Ironically, one of the Strokes, Albert Hammond Jr, was supporting here, with a lively display. That description could be used to describe Franz themselves, now up to a five-piece, with guitarist Nick McCarthy replaced by Dino Bardot and synths player Julian Corrie. Yet despite the band’s expansion this was the Alex Kapranos show more than ever. The suited and booted frontman, now sporting dyed blond hair, danced away with an impressive variety of moves, coaxed the crowd interaction along and carried an assured strut to his moves.
By the time the night concluded with a wildly entertaining, drawn out version of This Fire, Kapranos was half preacher, half smooth lounge crooner, seemingly relishing the added funk running through latest album Always Ascending.
Yet not all of that dynamic totally worked. A partying urge is fine but the likes of Finally or Glimpse of Love came across empty, lacking any real personality amidst synths and disposable dancefloor friendly tunes. It was the more divergent newbies that stood out, with Slow Don’t Kill Me Slow a mixture of cabaret vocals and totemic drumming from Paul Thomson, and Huck and Jim a chaotic, Buckfast-referencing whirlwind of a tune.
Luckily the group’s back catalogue is sturdy enough to compensate, including a thrilling, breathless Michael and Do You Want To’s sleazy stomp, before Take Me Out provided floor shaking guitar-pop joy. Such a run of songs sated those dancefloor desires stylishly indeed.
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