Few acts suffered from the collapse of British indie as much as Franz Ferdinand.
Not only did the band’s productivity grind to a halt (new album Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action is just their third in almost nine years), their appearance on festival posters also went from font size 18 to font size 10.
What remains the Glaswegians’ saving grace is their singles – a strength that makes them the ideal live act. While their albums have a tendency to plod and become overly repetitive, there’s no denying the giddy delights of ‘Ulysses’, ‘Take Me Out’, ‘Evil Eye’ et al.
Tonight’s appearance is compensation for the collapse of Harvest – a failure that officially marks the 175th festival death this financial year.
For those Franz fans who weren’t tickled by the Harvest line-up, the cancellation provided a hidden blessing with the ever-gorgeous Forum providing the perfect fall-back.
If the band’s intention was to repay fans after such an extended hiatus from our shores, they did so and then some.
A two hour-set filled with every notable hit – with the possible exception of ‘Lucid Dreams’ – catered to every fan who gleefully stumbled upon Franz Ferdinand in JB-Hi Fi nearly a decade ago (Christ – scary thought that).
Speaking of the crowd, they consisted of either ex-pats or the older generation of the Gen-Y brigade, making it a refreshingly hipster-free event.
The set begins as expected, with “No You Girls’ and ‘Evil Eye’ rolling gloriously into ‘Do You Want To’ and a sold-out Thursday night room declaring their appreciation with raised fists.
The Forum is also at her light-flashing best, providing a pill muncher’s dream (not that there were any here) and an epileptic’s version of Gallipoli all in the one sitting.
Much of the charm of Franz lies in the gawkish yet lovable swooning of frontman Alex Kapranos and the even more gawkish but lovable swooning of lead guitarist Nick McCarthy.
It’s this chemistry that bonds and ties, with bassist Robert Hardy and sticks man Paul Thompson happy to anchor the band’s well-honed tightness.
Whenever the night feels as if it’s dipping into the ploddingness of their albums, Kapranos and Co are quick to dip into their treasure chest of singles; case and point – ‘Take Me Out’, ‘This Fire’ and ‘Ulysses’.
It provides a timely reminder of how these Scots once straddled the musical world. As such, the night drifts into nostalgia sentimentality, with long-lost thoughts of high school parties and late-night exam studying nestling in the mind.
Still, this never detracts from the performance or the overarching thrill of seeing these song-shaped memories tear up a stage.
With ‘Goodbye Lovers And Friends’ capping off the main set, the band returns with a five-song strong encore, including the title track from their new LP, ‘Treason! Animals’ and crowd favourite ‘Jacqueline’.
And just for a bit of cream, the quartet reconvenes to unleash a maniacal drum climax and a hand-in-hand farewell bow, suitably ending 120 minutes of well-controlled Glaswegian antics.
British indie may have peaked long ago, but with a well-honed live repertoire and a well-loved back-catalogue, Franz Ferdinand remains relevant even if the genre they helped perpetuate ceases to be.
