By Amelia Blakey
At the beginning of February Franz Ferdinand released their fifth studio album Always Ascending, following the bands five year hiatus. After a change in the line-up, we see the band return with two new members Julian Corrie (Miaoux Miaoux) and Dino Bardot, who have replaced guitarist Nick McCarthy. Dino Bardot having been in the band, “1990s”, with lead singer Alex Kapranos and drummer Paul Thomson, This is the first new music released by the band since their collaboration with Sparks back in 2014 as FFS.
Last Saturday on the final night of their British tour, the band returned to Brighton Dome for the first time since the tour of their album “Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action”. Their unique sound, which they continuously reinvent and evolve, has grown into something much bigger than your usual indie band. Franz Ferdinand marched on stage to the start of the new albums title track, which was greeted with a wave of excitement from the packed auditorium. The title track from the new album shows the band mixing their new sound with the familiar guitar riffs we expect of any track they release to create an irresistible single embraced by fans both old and new. Immediately the whole room surged into the weird synth filled world of “Always Ascending”.
The Dome was filled with a mixed audience made up of the bands peers and surprisingly many teenagers. The bands younger audience are a testament to the bands ability to keep creating new and relevant music that still captivates new audiences whilst still being one of the best live bands around.
The crowd moshed their way through the bands old singles and hits like “Michael”, “Ulysses” and “Do you want to” before culminating in the bands biggest hit “Take Me Out” which descended in one mosh pit that filled the venue, with the band and crowd bouncing in unison during the build-up.
During the ethereal crescendo you saw the way the band owned the audience with the avant-garde synth of their latest single “Feel The Love Go” which builds up into a cross between the brass of Andy Mackay (Roxy Music), the Doors and, surprisingly, 1970’s euro synth pop outfit, Baccara.
As a teenager who has grown up listening to Franz Ferdinand, I have had the pleasure of seeing the way they have changed and developed over the last decade or so. Their triumphant return has left me even more excited to see what they are going to do next, with all the different opportunities they have open to them for their next album and beyond.
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