“Am I Ulysses? Am I Ulysses? No, but you are now boy. So sinister, so sinister, but last night was wild.” I saw Franz Ferdinand live two days ago. FRANZ FUCKING FERDINAND. Those boys know how to put on a show. I mean a SHOW. To my utter delight they played all of my favourites. ‘Tell Her Tonight’, ‘40”’, ‘Ulysses’, ‘Take Me Out’, ‘Outsiders’, ‘No You Boys’, ‘What She Came For’, ‘This Fire’, ‘Jacqueline’, ‘Darts of Pleasure’, ‘The Dark Of the Matinee’, ‘Cheating on You’, ‘Walk Away’, ‘Do You Wanna’ and several others I cannot remember for the life of me. I thought going into it, they were going to play lots of the new record ‘Franz Ferdinand: Tonight’ which I am ashamed to admit, I am not as familiar with as I should be, but they did not. They played the three biggest tracks, and played almost the entire first record (Franz Ferdinand) and a few indulgences from the second (You Could Do So Much Better). The show, although less than stellar in the lighting department, was stellar in terms of showman ship, and audience participation. At one point Alex had us singing the chorus to ‘Take Me Out’ and the la la la’s on ‘40”’. He even led us in a round of follow the leader where we all shouted out what ever he told us to. (Yeah huh! La la la! Uh Huh! Woah Yeah!) During one song (I can’t for the life of me remember which) Paul’s foot pedal broke, leading an extra long intro, and a stage hand rushed out to help replace it. Paul then nonchalantly tossed the broken pedal off the side, and broke into one of the kick ass drum solo’s I have ever heard. Alex, Bob, and Nick even grabbed sticks, and they stood all around the kit and they all played together! It was kick fucking ass to say the least. Then, they all left the stage and every one screamed and yelled for a good five minutes, demanding the band come back. And much to our delight, they trotted back out and Alex addressed us saying “You want us to play another song?” Which was greeted by another bout of cheers. Indulge us they did! Forget one song, they played SIX encore songs. I love them. The last song of the night was ‘Lucid Dreams’ which was ended in an extra long synthesizer extro which, I thought, was super bad ass. They left in layers. First Alex, after programming the synth. Then Nick, after finishing up his guitar parts, and programming the key board. Then Bob, after finishing his bass parts. Then, last but not least, Paul, after playing a super long drum solo and ending all the noise. All in all the night was super fantastically stellar. The boys kept us visually stimulated with jumping up on amps and dancing about the stage. Alex with his rigid lanky white boy moves around the stage, Bob- ironically- bobbing around the stage with his funky bass lines, visiting Paul every so often to keep that rhythm in check. Nick pulling out his best guitar moves. Alex playing guitar behind his head, and attempting an Angus Younge-esque move, scooting across the stage, one leg outstretched. At one point, Alex started Gyrating, his whole body shaking as if in mid seizure, waving his arms about the air in front of Paul. It was awesome. I tried my damndest to remember every detail I could soak in. I often forget set lists, and small details of concerts. If it’s been long enough I’ll forget hearing the songs live at all. This show was just too good to forget. Stellar night. When I arrived at the Burt, I was greeted by an ecstatic Julia. “ALEX WAS IN THAT PARKING LOT.” She was waving a finger across the street. “NO FUCKING WAY” was my response. She continued to fill me in on the story. Apparently the esteemed lead singer of the band was surrounded by a throng of people in a parking lot when Julia showed up. She screamed at the top of her lungs and begged her mom to let her out. Let her out goddamn it! Her mom let her out on the corner and Julia bolted like a mad man, yelling a feeble goodbye to her mother, bee lining it for the man. When she got there he had gone. It was an epic tale, and I was jealous that she got to sneak a peak up close and personal at Alex fucking Kapranos. I LOVE HIM. We were going to wait around after the show to see if we could talk to the boys and maybe get some autographs and photos, but Julia’s mom phoned halfway through the last song, and was coming right after. Still. The only other shows I have ever gushed about to this extent were my NIN shows, so you know, this had to have been excellent. And it was. If you didn’t go, you missed out my friend. The opening band was also pretty stellar. No one could catch the name in our section, but the lead singer was awesome. He danced like a fool, and was black, and had glasses. Need I explain more? No indeed. I am so pleased with this show. I am beside my self with glee, and its two days after the fact. I LOVE RANZ FERDINAND. --In love with four Scottish boys.