It's not immediately obvious why Franz Ferdinand have chosen to break a few years of silence by headlining this year's Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona.

There have only been a few performances by the band since they finished touring their third album Tonight: Franz Ferdinand in 2009, and with no new album on the horizon their future was beginning to look uncertain.

Perhaps the band wished to stake a claim to the rich heritage of Primavera Sound, past editions of which have been headlined by indie/alternative royalty such as Pavement, The Flaming Lips and The National. Or perhaps Primavera just approached them at the right time. Thankfully, any lack of definite motivation is not reflected in the performance. A huge crowd at Parc del Forum, an attractive seaside venue six kilometres east of the centre of Barcelona, is treated to a band who look like they will be around for many years to come.

Headliners at Primavera Sound typically play after midnight, and Franz Ferdinand eventually take the stage at 1.30am, opening with their breakthrough hit from 2003, Darts Of Pleasure. Frontman Alex Kapranos offers early apologies that he might be losing his voice, but any problems are well disguised.

A new song, Right Thoughts, is swiftly followed by Do You Want To? as a greatest hits set is peppered with new material. Fresh Strawberries is a playful song which sounds like the kind of thing the Rolling Stones might knock up if they had just rolled out of bed, and Trees and Animals is built from a similarly uncomplicated but melodic template. In total four new songs are debuted, and in particular Brief Encounters, built around an insectoid guitar riff, is so good that the segue from new song to greatest hit (in this case The Dark Of The Matinee) is seamless.

A highlight of the set arrives with an overhaul of the formerly somewhat pedestrian Can't Stop Feeling. The song benefits massively from a new thumping disco beat and an insertion of the chorus of I Feel Love, in tribute to Donna Summer. The inevitable Take Me Out follows immediately, then a vigorous Ulysses, by which point any possible doubts about Franz Ferdinand's credentials to headline Primavera Sound are obliterated.

It's hard to imagine any of Franz Ferdinand's early noughties UK contemporaries commanding a headline slot at a European festival with this panache, and good tunes. Perhaps their next album, if they get round to one, should be called Welcome Back: Franz Ferdinand.

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