You Could Have It So Much Better

I recently went to see the art-indie-pop band Franz Ferdinand live at the Manchester Academy. They delivered a good set, despite a few sound issues, but seemed to be a little short of momentum and energy.

Franz are a strange band to me; one that I have always liked but never really loved. They have created some of the greatest songs of the 21st century and yet at the same, have produced three largely patchy albums. All of the members are truly likeable but yet still strangely enigmatic.

This was my first time of seeing them live and I was surprised to see just how much front man Alex Kapranos controls the stage. The other three band members seem to fade into the background and Kapranos sings and plays the majority of the killer riffs - it reminded me more of the backing band for a solo act as a group that had been together for years.

Of the gig, my favourite Ferdinand song, Walk Away - which I was mildly obsessed with when it was released – was neutered into a slow-paced version which took away some of the fire and drive that made the song so infectious. They also didn’t play the coda at the end of the song; a strange aside about historical leaders that doesn’t really fit but in its idiosyncrasy was my favourite part. The song contains two of my favourite Franz lyrics too – “Mascara bleeds a blackened tear” and the beautifully elliptical “The sound of stilettos on a silent night”.

As the show went on, they chose not to play quite as many of their new songs as I would’ve expected for a band on tour in support of said record. This suggested a lack of confidence in the new album, which I can ultimately understand. In preparation for the gig, I bought the CD and put it in my car a week or so beforehand. I found that by the end, I was quite pleased to take it out and that I’d only really been focusing on two or three songs that I really liked.

For all this criticism, there is never a bad song on a Franz Ferdinand album, but what tempers this is that frequently only a few songs per album that are truly great. When it happens, there is no better indie band; certainly no one better at fusing danceable riffs with oddly eloquent lyrics.
Typically, these moments of magic only seem to come when they do something that sounds really original and fresh.

Hearing Ulysses for the first time amazed me; the weird and brooding sounds of the verses building up to the crescendo of the sing-a-long chorus is right up there as one of my songs of the year. I would love to see the band forget about their first album, experimenting with the forms of their songs and concentrating on the eccentricities that make them stand out from a crowd awash with generic indie bands.

They have the potential to be one of the great British bands – at the moment they will only be remembered as a good singles band.