Even after four years away, Glasgow four-piece Franz Ferdinand still has a fire that’s out of control. In their time away, the band seemed to re-discover the vitality and freshness that brought their debut album, now almost ten years past, to great international acclaim. Touring in support of their just-released
Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action (Domino Records), their 80 min. performance in front of an enthusiastic crowd at the Skyway Theatre proved that their distinctive and sharp dance-rock riffs are still a viable part of today’s musical ether.
 The Skyway Theatre
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The Skyway Theatre itself is a third-floor old six-screen cineplex, with seats removed on the sloped floor and stepped balcony, and a wide stage placed in front of the screen area. Mostly known for hosting EDM acts, the 1,956 capacity room actually holds more than neighboring First Avenue, though promoter Live Nation prefers to keep attendance at a more comfortable 1,800 or less. Concession stands have been converted to full bars and escalators that didn’t work in the 90’s, still don’t work. The garish carpet and theater smell of yesteryear all still linger, though there is a certain charm/kitsch about it, as well as somewhat boomy but otherwise decent acoustics in the venue.
 FRANKIE ROSE
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Brooklyn-based Frankie Rose opened the evening with a brief but solid 30 min. set. After playing in Crystal Stilts, Dum Dum Girls, and Vivian Girls, Rose struck out on her own in 2010 with the release of
Frankie Rose and the Outs. She toured under that name (the Outs being her band), but by her sophomore album,
Interstellar, she dropped the name the Outs, possibly due to changing band members, or most likely, to keep it simple.
 Frankie Rose Setlist
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Rose started her set with "The Depths", from her latest album
Herein Wild, and then after the song was over, she commented that it was about a lake. After a pause, she added, "Lake Minnetonka" (jokingly). The Minnesota-love theme would soon follow with her commenting on how she loved it here and wants to move here. No one believed her, but it does goes to show that she probably spent some time here and knows the area well enough to talk about it.
I also wanted to note that how she handled some heckler, with a response of, "Say it to my face!" This tells me that Rose can handle herself and has probably encountered other very rude people throughout her career. Despite the anonymous idiot in the crowd, she still insisted that everyone in the audience were more than welcome to join her van. "It'll be just like the Polyphonic-Spree, only bigger."
Anyway, Rose previewed three songs ("The Depths", "Into Blue", and "Question/Reason") from
Herein Wild, her first release from Fat Possum Records. The rest of her set was made up of songs from
Interstellar, and ended with a cover of The Damned "Street of Dreams" and one of her first written solo songs, "Save Me".
 Alex Kapranos
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Headliner Franz Ferdinand couldn’t have planned their opener any better. As lights dimmed and the intro music was cued, the Scottish quartet took to the stage to great applause and went into the more-than appropriate ‘The Dark of the Matinée’. “You sound pretty good tonight!”, singer Alex Kapranos addressed the crowd, co-guitarist/keyboardist Nick McCarthy buoying left and right in place while the rhythm section of bassist Bob Hardy and drummer Paul Thomson stayed mostly in the shadows but kept momentum going with angular bass lines and high-hat percussion.
‘Do You Want To’ rose the crowd early on, the lead single from the band’s second album inspiring dancing and cheering from the mostly younger audience. ‘Walk Away’, the “only song we’ve ever written in a dressing room” was well received as was ‘Stand on the Horizon’, which the band transitioned effortlessly into next.
 Franz Ferdinand Setlist
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The setlist was a well-planned seamless mix of newer songs and older classics from their three previous albums, and included a number of alt-radio staples you may have forgotten until you hear them played again. “It feels pretty good!”, Kapranos emoted before the band stretched into a set highlight of the throbbing ‘Can’t Stop Feeling’, which morphed into Donna Summer’s disco-classic ‘I Feel Love’- an homage to the driving beat that anchors both songs and made the crowd wish for a giant disco ball overhead. “You’ve got me all excited up here--I’ve got to take my inhaler”, Kapranos explained after the song performance, “that’s the sign of a good night” he gleaned, keeping his asthma in check.
Red lights appropriately bathed the stage for a passionate ‘This Fire’, with Kapranos feeling some gospel soul and becoming preacher-like as he incited the crowd to chant the chorus in unison. The requested ‘Treason! Animals’ followed, bassist Hardy anchoring the song with a fierce bottom rhythm, then the band segued into the massive ‘Take Me Out’, which prompted pogoing and beer swilling from both sides of the sloped floor. The upbeat ‘Ulysses’ from the band’s previous album, closed the main set, audience members hands all waving left to right and ending with thunderous applause.
The encore began with the first single from their newest album, “Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action…Right Now!” - Kapranos introduced the bouncy song that fits perfectly in the oeuvre of their other radio hits. Guitarist McCarthy began the pulsing ‘Michael’ with a machine-gun riff and the show ended with an apropos ‘Goodbye Lovers and Friends’, a classy farewell song to wish us all well after their long absence from local stages.
We caught up with Kapranos post-show and asked whether he would return to producing other acts after the current tour, as he has done previous. Franz Ferdinand fans will be pleased to hear he feels the band is sounding better than ever and will likely instead re-enter the studio to begin plotting the next Franz Ferdinand release - hopefully making it a less-than-four-year-wait until we see them again next.
They are so fun live. I'm glad you got to catch them.
Posted by: robin in sf | 10/11/2013 at 01:22 PM