Franz Ferdinand, Edinburgh review: 'an intimate treat'


Franz Ferdinand, Liquid Room, Edinburgh ★★★★
What a thrill to see a band like Franz Ferdinand in a venue as compact as the Liquid Room. The Glasgow-founded group have evolved and changed personnel substantially over the past 20 years, yet they still bear the kind of reputation which will take them to much larger venues like Glasgow’s Barrowland and SWG3 Galvanizers Yard later this year.
All of which meant that seeing all five band members crammed onto this small stage was an intimate treat - and one which brought home the unrelenting power and energy they bring to the live stage.
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Hide AdThis was the second of two consecutive Sunday evening shows for customers of local record store Assai, to mark the release of sixth album The Human Fear two days before.
Apart from bassist Bob Hardy, frontman Alex Kapranos is the band’s only remaining founder member, and he is now more central to the band’s sound and identity than ever. Here wearing a smart-blazer, he still comes across as a cross between a 1970s club MC and an edgy teen punk playing his first ever gig, and the combination enthuses the rest of the band as much as the audience.
During a packed, hour-long set, the plentiful new material felt in-sync with the group’s already-impressive catalogue, from the melodic New Wave bounce of the opening The Doctor to the grandly anthemic Audacious, its swooning middle section delivered by Kapranos down on his knees.
Night or Day’s noisy Roxy Music riff is as compellingly urgent as anything this band have written, Build It Up had a nice striding swagger about it and The Birds was a clattering, confessional mini-epic.
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Hide AdThen, of course, the classics never grow old. The atmosphere electrified when Take Me Out and Do You Want To started up, for example, while Walk Away inspired a hearty singalong and The Dark of the Matinee wrong-footed the excited crowd with its moody, squalling intro.
There was such a sense of boldness in the air that traditional closer This Fire was even switched on the running order, ad hoc, for The Birds, the kind of move only ever pulled by a band who know exactly what they’re doing.
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