Franz Ferdinand
National Stadium, Dublin
★★★★☆
The crop of British postpunk revival bands from the early 2000s have all hit respectable middle age, but Glasgow band Franz Ferdinand are determined to keep the arty party going. After their first flurry of success with their self-titled debut album and follow-ups You Could Have It So Much Better and Tonight: Franz Ferdinand, it looked like Alex Kapranos and his Warholian wrecking crew had used up their 15 minutes of fame. However, they deftly dodged irrelevance with their 2013 album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, and more recently released their sixth studio album, The Human Fear, to critical acclaim and renewed chart success. They’ve been on the road in support of the record and performed a storming Glastonbury set last summer, with fellow Scotsman Peter Capaldi making a surprise guest appearance.
That album was their first entirely recorded with their current line-up, following the departures of guitarist Nick McCarthy and drummer Paul Thompson in 2017. The founding duo of Kapranos and bassist Bob Hardy are joined by their old Yummy Fur bandmate Dino Bardot on guitar, Julian Corrie on keyboards and guitar, and Audrey Tait on drums. They arrived onstage at the National Stadium to the cheesy strains of FBI Theme (Merengue Version), striking a pose as they hit the first riff of Dark of the Matinee.
They may be arty, and a little arch, but Franz Ferdinand are certainly not aloof. Kapranos, wearing a snazzy suit, spats and a bright, big-collared shirt, is clearly on a mission to get the crowd jumping around to the urgent postpunk dance beats of No You Girls and Do You Want To, and singing along to the popcentric choruses of Walk Away and Jacqueline. The band’s ability to switch tempo and mood in the blink of a strobe light is still very much intact.
Songs from the new album may not live up to the youthful craftiness of their earlier records, but they make up for it with a silky maturity. Night or Day and Audacious prove the biggest of the new songs, the latter featuring the timely line “don’t go blaming the neighbours”, while Hooked is rave-adjacent and Black Eyelashes brings a loungy humour to proceedings as Kapranos deploys the bouzouki, an instrument seldom seen in art-rock circles. Michael, from their self-titled debut, still looks good on the dance floor, and Evil Eye still wields a slightly creepy spell.
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It all builds up to the inevitable climax of Take Me Out, by which time the party is in full swing. Outsiders closes the set with a disco flourish, the band abandoning their instruments at the end and joining drummer Tait in bashing seven shades out of her drum kit.
The encore opens with the heady Ulysses and ends with the incendiary This Fire, its refrain of “burn this city down” ringing out in the Dublin night. They’ve still got the spark, all right.
