Franz Ferdinand 

Live reviews

• Although the genre of post-punk isn't new, Franz Ferdinand was at the forefront of its revival during the mid-2000s in the United Kingdom.

  Franz Ferdinand has a certain sound that anyone can pick up as soon as you hear one of their songs. Although their realm of music is saturated with artists all doing the same thing, you can always tell a Franz Ferdinand song as soon as you hear the first few notes, even before singer Alex Kapranos begins to sing.

  This is evident in concert as well. In an outdoor festival in the daytime, they introduce themselves and immediately begin to play. As soon as the first two or three notes are played of a certain song, like "Take Me Out," the crowd begins to go crazy and starts cheering and jumping as the band gets past the song's introduction. Aside from the getting the audience pumped up with their music, Franz Ferdinand also has a classy stage presence.

  All the members dress in dark colors, with Alex Kapranos wearing a button-down shirt. Behind them, a large screen projects images relating to the band. There isn't really much else going on visually, except maybe some lights for when it begins to get dark. The stage itself is huge, and is surrounded by crowds, of which some try and get close to band as they play. As Franz Ferdinand has become more popular, the crowds have become bigger.

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  By Anonymous

• If you are aiming to dance nonstop during all the gig, Franz Ferdinand is the best choice. For Brazilians, it's a big deal the fact that they come almost every year to perform in São Paulo, but I do believe it's good deal for us to keep my hometown always in their route. As for the gig, it was awesome! New hits from RIGHT WORDS, RIGHT THOUGHTS, RIGHT ACTIONS mixed with the best of their previous albums. I may dare to say that there was nothing out. A lot of music, less talking - that's how I like it. 21 songs well played. whenever the audience got a little bit tired of jumping and dancing, they brought up a hit to make us get into the beat again. "DO YOU WANT TO" was great and so it was "WALK AWAY". Of course "TAKE ME OUT" made everybody scream from the top of their lungs. and that drum jam was unbelievable!! Just amazing! When they came back for the encore, again new versus old hits just perfectly matching. Also they shown a little bit of love to São Paulo when they played "THIS FIRE", which made us leave the gig wanting them to come next year. I'll be there for sure!

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  by brunacth

• For a rock act to make their audience dance throughout the whole gig is quite an impossible feat yet Scottish group Franz Ferdinand do not seem to have any issues in achieving this. Their entire discography is tinged with that pop/rock sound that means it just makes you want to move and the piercing percussion pulses through the room and gets the whole venue jumping along to the beat. There has always been theatrics involved with Franz's show and tonight is no exception as there are operatic introductions added to the likes of 'The Dark of the Matinée'.

  There is also huge encouragement from lead singer Alex Kapranos who whips the masses into heightened enthusiasm for 'No You Girls' a modern indie classic which is barked back in force by the delighted fans. You cannot fault the boys attitude onstage as they tear through a varied set with equal enthusiasm, clearly holding all their albums in equal affection. The fans do have clear favourites for 'Ulysses' and 'Take Me Out' which make a perfect closer to a set from a band that is fast moving from talented to iconic.

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  by sean-ward

• Franz Ferdinand are the most amazing live band I've ever seen. I always have so much fun when I see them cause of how awesome their songs sound live and how much fun they have performing together on stage. Their frontman, Alex Kapranos, is absolutely fantastic! He's charismatic, sexy and has a voice that's like warm honey and he really engages with the audiance. They performed four new songs off the upcoming album(Paper Cages, Huck & Jim, Lazy Boy & Always Ascending) as well as hits and fan favs off their four previous albums. I can't recommend enough how enjoyable these guys are to see live. They are my fav band and the guys are all so sweet, (Alex Kapranos, Bob Hardy, Paul Thomson) as well as the new addition of Julian Corrie and Dino Bardot who are so sweet and awesome as well. I've known the boys personally for years now and it's always exciting knowing that I'm going to see them even after all these years and more then 16 gigs later they still manage to keep their shows fresh and exciting.

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  by cara-anderson-3

• Last night was the 20th time I’ve seen this amazing band and I’m always floored by what an epically awesome live band they are! Last night was incredible! Alex was in top form prowling, dancing and reaching out to the crowd enticing us to interact with him. It was the perfect mix of classic Franz and songs off of the new album. One of the highlights was hearing the amazing Come On Home, off their debut album, for the first time last night in years! I couldn’t stop laughing and singing with joy right along with Alex. What a treat! I have no voice left but it’s a small price to pay for such an incredibly fun night! Looking forward to seeing them at The Observatory in Santa Ana Saturday.

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  by cara-anderson-3

• Absolutely killer show. The front man, Alex, is absolutely one of the biggest reasons to see this show. His energy and sweet dance moves rock the crowd along with the fantastic instrumental work of the rest of the band. The crowd involvement and hype that they generate just kept building throughout the night. What a show! My only complaint was the weird opener they had for this show, Bodega, who seemed to be going for that alt-punk/hipster sound but came out just sounding loud and out of tune. Definitely not a band for this audience and I don't expect they'll be playing many shows.

  Franz 10/10!

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  by Jayctyler

• Love Franz Ferdinand more than any other band and know all the lyrics. I've been waiting for their concert in NYC for so many years, but I have to admit it was a disappointment. There's only one reason -- they played new album FFS created with Sparks. Basically this album is not like Franz Ferdinand rock music that I love so much. It's not bad, just different. So no moshing, no wilderness.. But we'll be waiting for another solo Franz Ferdinand concert in NYC,because Alex Kapranos is genius and we love his oeuvre, not somebody's else.

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  by daq

• The band were exception and played a varied mix of their biggest tunes. The performance was stunning, created with enmense energy from the band and attractive lights and backdrops. The atmosphere was good except from the grumpy old man standing next to me who didn't so much as tap his foot to the music, however this was just unlucky and could not be affected by the band. The band interacted well with the audience and at the end of the gig the lead singer threw me his pick.

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  by nathan.wood1810

• I wanted to like this show more than I did. Some of the FFS songs were okay, others were just too theatrical and didn't really work for me. It was like Rush and Yes had a secret 13 day love child (I'm looking at you Elijah Blue) and this band is that child, a child that watched Jesus Christ Superstar once too many apparently. I saw FF ten years ago and they rocked, tonight I was disappointed for 2/3's of the show.

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  by andrei-anson

• The Franz Ferdinand & Sparks show was unique, something i was not expecting! The attitudes of both lead vocalists really drove the event the entire portion of the night. They ended their world tour here in Oakland, and it was quite the showcase to go out. All in all they did a few Sparks covers and a few Franz Ferdinand covers, but last night they were one band on stage!

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  by turkybaken