Franz Ferdinand @ 9:30 Club [DC] - 8/10/2022
Franz Ferdinand’s Alex Kapranos at 9:30 Club in DC (Photo ©2022 Mauricio Castro)
Nearly 20 years after their debut album, Franz Ferdinand continue to make people jump and dance. The band hit the indie-rock stratosphere with “Take Me Out” in 2004, and since then, they’ve performed to crowds all over the world. Not just North America and Europe, but even places as unexpected as China, Uruguay, Morocco, and Georgia (the country). Of course, things have changed a bit for the formerly four-piece band from Glasgow. Notably, only singer/guitarist Alex Kapranos and bassist Bob Hardy remain from the original lineup. Guitarist Dino Bardot, keyboardist Julian Corrie, and drummer Audrey Tait are all recent additions to the band, so now is as good a time as ever to put a capstone on what has passed before moving on to what will be.
And so, we have Hits to the Head, a chronological greatest-hits album repackaging the music that launched a worldwide fervor. Fan favorites, from their first single “Darts of Pleasure” to their latest album’s “Always Ascending,” made the cut, and two new songs, “Billy Goodbye” and “Curious,” give fans hints to where the band is headed next.
In classic greatest-hits album tour fashion, the band gave the sold-out 9:30 Club the hits. Tait proved that she is an adept drummer in her own right, exploding on the drum kit during set closer “This Fire” and getting her own timbale solo on “Outsiders.” Bardot’s guitar work bobbed and weaved around Kapranos’s on “Michael” in a way that had fans of Nick McCarthy’s slick riffs grinning from ear to ear. Corrie retrofits the band’s previous output with some synthy sensibilities, even getting some solo time of his own. And at 50, Kapranos is still the consummate showman, getting in a high kick or high jump whenever he can between verses. And with him leading the quintet into their third decade of life, it’s not hard to imagine that with their energy and presence, they’ll make their next DC stop feel like your very first one all over again.
Photos by Mauricio Castro
SETLIST
Jacqueline
Lucid Dreams
Always Ascending
Evil Eye
Do You Want To
The Dark of the Matinee
No You Girls
Curious
Walk Away
Billy Goodbye
Love Illumination
The Fallen
Take Me Out
Michael
Outsiders
ENCORE
Glimpse of Love
Ulysses
This Fire