CONCERT REVIEW

FRANZ FERDINAND
Metro
Chicago, IL
June 12, 2004

Entertainment
Art

Story by SAM JEMIELITY
Photos by BARRY BRECHEISEN

It’s hard to say what was more deafening: the wall-of-sound guitars that have made Franz Ferdinand one of the most exciting new bands of 2004, or the wall-of-hype that preceded the band on its U.S. tour. Whatever. By the time the band arrived in Chicago, their spring release "Franz Ferdinand" had already imprinted its art-rock mastery on the rock cognoscenti, and the Metro was long sold out. The capacity crowd would not go home disappointed: from the disco-fever-fueled opener, "Cheating on You," frontman Alex Kapranos and his Glasgow mates had the audience completely under their spell.

Their accents may be a little tough to understand, but the message delivered on that rollicking Saturday night was unmistakable: believe the hype.

Sliding into the next song, the disco-rock "Come on Home," Kapranos told the
crowd, "This song is about being on the road," as Nick McCarthy set aside his lead guitar to add keyboard flourishes. Franz Ferdinand has made no bones in interviews about their goal to get jaded hipsters off their asses and dancing—think Brit Pop meets the Bee Gees—and the receptive crowd at the Metro obliged from the start. Clearly, everyone in the crowd had memorized nearly every song off the band’s eponymous debut—or at least pretended to. On the New Order-esque "Auf Achse," with McCarthy playing a
haunting keyboard riff, you could barely hear Kapranos over fans singing the chorus, "She’s not so special so look what you’ve done, boy." At the end of the song, Kapranos looked approvingly over the crowd and cracked, "Now, I can see, the hands are moving, and the feet are beginning to twitch."

The twitching turned into full-out strobe-enhanced dancing as Franz Ferdinand launched into the single, "Take Me Out," and Kapranos seemed to revel in his newfound rock star status, marching to the military drumline and pointing out at the crowd like a calculus-class Steven Tyler. Dressed in a brown striped shirt, black slacks and orange leather shoes, the waifish frontman looked like a customer at Beck’s tailor shop, slashing
away on his Telecaster alongside McCarthy. After McCarthy slid over to vocals on the next track, "Tell Her Tonight," pulling off some jittery David Byrne moves, Kapranos announced a song that "reminds us of Glasgow," and set off into the album opener, "Jacqueline," getting shirtless hipsters pogo-sticking in the crowd.

With their historically inspired name, art-rock background, German song titles, and brainiac lyrics, Franz Ferdinand couldn’t be farther from an arena rock band. But they clearly are enjoying what might just be a moment in the spotlight, and that was nowhere more evident than on "40," which saw Kapranos hop on the drum riser and make a No. 1 sign before playing to the crowd by asking, "Is Chicago always this much fun?"

Franz Ferdinand mixed in a few new tracks ("Love & Destroy," "Van Tango") which were warmly appreciated, although they didn’t stand out as especially memorable. When the band lit into their campy gay come-on, "Michael," ("beautiful boys on a beautiful dance floor") the audience tuned right back in, and McCarthy faced off with Thomson on the drum riser. The entire band jumped on the riser for "Darts of Pleasure" before putting aside their instruments. When they returned with a new song, "Shopping For Blood," a bra flew on stage landing near a seemingly startled Kapranos. For the first time all night, Kapranos grabbed a new guitar for the final song, "This Fire," as strobes and red light bathed the stage. At the end of the night, Franz Ferdinand had played every song from their album, without deviating very far from the recorded versions. And the crowd wouldn’t have had it any other way.