Franz Ferdinand
PJ Molloys, Dunfermline, Monday, January 31
DUNFERMLINE brings the noise. What a raucous, rowdy, exhilarating evening; half-gig, half-celebration of the very idea of a gig. All helped by the fact that Franz Ferdinand mark their return to live shows by playing hit after hit to an audience clearly thrilled to be hearing them and quite possibly just thrilled to be out.
Ahead of a new greatest hits album coming out next month this intimate gig, recorded by 6 Music for its Independent Venue Week, was a reminder of the joy of live music. Singing, dancing, alcohol-throwing. And, for the band, it was a first chance to play with new drummer Audrey Tait in a show that wasn’t for a fashion label.
Following a support slot from Hamish Hawk, the band arrived onstage and launched immediately into The Dark of the Matinee, signalling their intention that this was going to be an all-killer, no filler kind of evening. The good news for the band in 2022 is a new song like Billy Goodbye, all glam rock stomp and catchphrase chorus (“Don’t Forget the Best Bits”), does not sound anaemic when nestled in between the tunes from the band’s imperial phase.
And there are so many of them. There’s a danger with Franz Ferdinand that their first hit Take Me Out overshadows everything they’ve done since, but the compilation album Hits to the Head and shows like this should be a reminder that they’ve had nearly 20 years of making music now and know their way around a pop song. Darts of Pleasure, Do You Want To, This Fire; all were wheeled out and all sounded fresh and vibrant.
Now a five piece, with Tait joining founder members Alex Kapranos and Bob Hardy, alongside Julian Corrie and Dino Bardot, there were few signs of ring-rustiness on show here. And if singer Kapranos is the obvious visual centrepiece of the band, it should be noted that Hardy’s Buster Keatonesque deadpan demeanour is just as compelling.
It’s possible that after months without live music anything would have seemed good to me right now, but this was the sound [and look] of a band remembering how much fun it is to play live. The result superfantastich, naturlich.
Franz Ferdinand will be interviewed in The Herald Magazine on February 12
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