It’s not often a band that have been stagnating in popularity can sell out venues. Regardless of this Franz Ferdinand found no issue in doing so at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre.
The Glaswegian quartet were touring their terrific new album ‘Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action’ and after they opened with the song, that shares its title with that of the album, it became vibrantly clear as to why they sold out.
Franz Ferdinand know how to perform. What many bands have been getting away with a lot recently is producing very good studio albums but not having the stage prowess to back up record.
Franz Ferdinand however are at a point in their career where they can pluck songs from their back catalogue that are received with just as much enthusiasm as songs featured on the new album.
Add to that the staggering on-stage presence that is Alex Kapranos (lead singer) and the terrifically clear guitar riffs that resonate through each track and you’ve got one hell of a gig.
The great thing about the timing of this gig was how long it has been since the latest album was released. Every song from it was met with an audience bellowing back the lyrics.
This was incredibly evident with “Evil Eye”. The kind of trashy sound that almost delves into punk, transferred perfectly into the live performance. It has an edge to it that really got the crowd going and was so very true of Franz.
“Take Me Out” is a song they’ll never escape from. It was included in the best guitar riffs of its decade and it’s so easy to see why. It’s rare that you come across a song that every audience member knows every word to and has no shame whatsoever in belting along with it. That said, this was not the band’s highlight of the night.
As so often with their live performances it is in fact the lesser-known “This Fire” from their band-titled first album that leaves the audience in sheer ecstasy. They play the intro riff over and over and over, building more and more until it eventually thrills into a belting chorus from the off.
Until building even more suspense after the repetition of “this fire is out of control” except there is no backing music with it just rather slow building melodic harmonies once again building into a blissful, full, chorus.
All in all it was a damn terrific gig with the boys from Glasgow succumbing to the crowd’s demands and coming onto play an encore that closed suitably with “Brief Encounters”.
This of course, was met with a standing ovation, myself included.
Top Gig: 4/5
Michael Cogley
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