Franz Ferdinand burned through a killer 90-minute setlist in front of a sold-out crowd at the House of Blues in Dallas, Texas. For the most part, The Scottish trio of Alex Kapranos, Bob Hardy and Nick McCarthy (struggling on crutches) chose a well-rounded setlist that included tracks from their self-titled debut album, You Could Have it So Much Better and Franz Ferdinand: Tonight. It only took a handful of songs before the most raucous crowd was on their feet; dancing and screaming the lyrics back at lead vocalist Kapranos almost verbatim.
Three songs into their concert, Kapranos said, for those of you who can’t see over the people in front of you, you might as well get up dance with the rest of us. Do You Want To is one of their most recognized anthems that features Hardy’s jagged guitar grooves over a melody that is reminiscent of some of the finest work from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. It must have been ladies' night at the House of Blues, most of the women were screaming the chorus to very catchy and new retro rock favorite No You Girls. It features sexy and seductive lyrics including, no you girl’s will never know how you make the boys feel …
One of band’s finest song selections of the night was the slick yet somber guitar ballad of Walk Away. Kapranos mourns and croons about prematurely breaking off a relationship that could have been special. His vocal was so haunting and his delivery invoked so much pain and grit, it rendered the concertgoers speechless – for nearly four full minutes. Kapranos’ dark yet emotive voice invoked such empowerment with the audience that it didn’t take deep hypnosis to find the audience was singing or humming along.
Fans received another large dose of adrenaline during the encore performance of the Franz classic, This Fire. The North Texas fandom united together to chant in unison the highly addictive chorus, This fire is out of control, I’ve got to burn this city, burn this city ... This song is very reminiscent to many of the emotionally invigorating songs from Joy Division’s back catalogue. While Franz bulldozed their way through many dance floor stompers, nothing matched the electricity more than the band’s final song of the night, the techno-ladened Lucid Dreams. McCarthy’s injury did not hamper his amazing wizardry on keyboards as he unleashed Depeche Mode-like synthesizers and break-beats that had everyone grooving and grinding from their seats one last time.
One of the few limitations of their performance was that Franz failed to surprise the audience with a few lesser-known gems from their discography. The electro-inspired Live Alone exemplifies the band’s new direction, adding more Eurodance beats to accompany their brooding guitar rhythms. L. Wells could have been a welcomed edition that conjures up memories from the gorgeous sing-along choruses from the classic Beatles’ Abbey Road album. But the Scottish set was sharp, short and sweet, leaving its audience yearning for one more tune and another pint of brew before they called it a night.
Grade: A-
In The Spotlight: Franz Ferdinand No You Girls (Live From Dallas)
