3 months ago
14
MUSIC
Franz Ferdinand ★★★★
Live at the Gardens, Royal Botanic Gardens, November 28
It’s a Friday night in Melbourne at the edge of summer – so naturally, the outfit du jour is raincoats and ponchos. Drizzle turns into a steady downpour through the night, but Scottish band Franz Ferdinand feels right at home – “like playing in a park in Glasgow,” says frontman Alex Kapranos.
Franz Ferdinand perform at Live at the Gardens on Saturday night.Credit: Richard Clifford
A bit of rain doesn’t deter the band, or the crowd, from partying like it’s 2004.
Franz Ferdinand were poster boys for what’s affectionately (or derisively, depending on who’s saying it) referred to as “indie sleaze” – that noughties era of angular guitar, skinny jeans and an insatiable thirst for the dancefloor. Kapranos, one of two remaining original members, might be in his 50s now, but all that means is that he’s grown even further into his sonorous baritone, always rich beyond its years.
The band released its sixth album, The Human Fear, this year. It’s a mixed bag: some songs, such as the hammy Hooked, are better forgotten. Others include flashes of new and old inspiration – on Black Eyelashes, Kapranos nods to his Greek heritage by playing a bouzouki, which also makes an appearance in the live set. At one point in the evening, all five musicians play the drum kit together.
Unsurprisingly, it’s the earlier hits that get the loudest cheers: No You Girls and Do You Want To are as irresistible and hook-laden as ever.
Alex Kapranos and the band – or the crowd – aren’t deterred by a bit of rain.Credit: Richard Clifford
There’s a bit of self-indulgence on display – the instantly recognisable introduction of the band’s best-known track Take Me Out is drawn out for over a minute – but all is forgiven when it rumbles into its iconic tempo shift, building towards what remains one of indie sleaze’s finest moments.
The show goes on afterwards, but it’s hard to beat hearing a song like that live, dancing ourselves clean in the pouring rain and feeling the years wash away.
Reviewed by Giselle Au-Nhien Nguyen
