On Wednesday night, Scottish indie rockers Franz Ferdinand played in Orlando, Florida, for the first time in 21 years. The Human Fear Tour stopped at a packed House of Blues for a night of hyper party rock.
Newcomer Master Peace started the night with a short set of energetic indie pop. Backed by a guitarist and a backing track, Master Peace, whose real name is Peace Okezie, played a lively set of eclectic music with influences from post-punk, pop rock, funk, and hip-hop. The jerky rock rhythms of “Start You Up” were a good preview of Franz Ferdinand, while the thumping hip-hop of “Wake Up” revved up the party atmosphere. On the set-closing “Home,” Peace crossed the barricade and sang from the middle of the dancing crowd.
That party atmosphere continued during the 90-minute Franz Ferdinand set. Drawing heavily from this year’s The Human Fear and the 2004 eponymous debut, the quintet used every inch of the stage. Frontman Alex Kapranos and fellow guitarist Dino Bardot danced, jumped, kicked, and strutted while tearing through their signature angular riffs. Drummer Audrey Tait and bassist Bob Hardy laid down hip-shaking rhythms while Julian Corrie fleshed out the sound with keyboard licks or a third guitar.
Franz Ferdinand’s not-so-secret recipe is choppy, staccato guitar riffs played over dance beats with Kapranos’s vocals ranging from a velvety croon to a shout. The band milked that formula throughout the set for all it’s worth. Though an unfortunate technical problem with Kapranos’s microphone distorted his voice, the band was tight, the grooves were infectious, and the dueling guitar riffs were juicy. From the jittery licks in crowd-pleasers “The Dark of the Matinee” and “The Fallen” to the synth-heavy dance grooves of “Night or Day” and “Hooked,” which featured a guest appearance from Master Peace, Franz Ferdinand played with intensity and swagger.
Before playing breakthrough hit “Take Me Out,” Kapranos asked the audience to put away their phones as an experiment. “Back in 2004, when this came out, we didn’t have phones everywhere. Everyone just danced and had a good time. Why don’t we try that and see if we like it?” he suggested. The band then fed off the crowd’s energy and tore through the song with extra passion. “I have to say, in our scientific experiment, the pre-smart phone age won by a mile,” Kapranos said.
The band closed the regular set with a kinetic rendition of “Outsiders,” concluding the song with a drum solo in which the other band members picked up drumsticks and struck the cymbals in time with Tait.
For the encore, the band started with a new track, “Audacious,” before sending the show off with three beloved old songs. Before playing the dynamic “Jacqueline,” Kapranos explained, “This wasn’t a single, but it’s one of the first songs we wrote for our first album.” He then noticed a fan holding up a copy of their debut record, and everyone in the band took a moment to autograph it.
“Jacqueline” started soft and slow, just Kapranos and his guitar, crooning about a woman he said was “a real character.” Then the rest of the band joined, and the party vibes returned. The bouncing grooves of “Ulysses” then turned all of the House of Blues into a dance floor. To close the show, the band delivered an incendiary rendition of one of its most aggressive songs, “This Fire.” Kapranos and Bardot exchanged dueling guitar solos in an extended jam, Hardy anchored the song with a pulsing bassline, and the crowd shouted along with choruses.
Few bands have as much fun onstage as Franz Ferdinand. The energetic stage presence isn’t just for show. It’s a band that seems to genuinely enjoy entertaining, and with each memorable hook, sing-along melody, and danceable groove, that same joy is transferred from the band to the audience.
