This time last year, they were playing at the tiny Stereo in Glasgow for the launch night of their debut single, "Darts of Pleasure". But on October 16th 2004, the lads were playing in front of two thousand home supporters in one of the most prestigious and respected venues in the world after having finished a breakthrough tour of America and shifting a ridiculous amount of copies of their eponymous debut album. We've had them thrust in our faces for the past few months and the appeal is still there. What is it going to take exactly to dampen "This Fire"?

An hour before doors, there was already a strong queue gathered. And what happens if you turn up nice and early to a gig, children?

You get to meet the band! This was no exception. With Paul (drummer) appearing out of the door with his girlfriend on his arm we managed to grab a quick chat with the gappy toothed rhythmic legend. Soon after, the cheeky faced, usually grumpy, Bob (bass) appeared carrying some towels and was promptly followed by the

wide eyed lead man, Alex Kapranos. The guys were more than happy to stop and chat with everyone who wanted to and even agreed to a couple of photo opportunities with yours truly. It's good to see their superstar status hasn't gone to their heads. If only the same could be said for The Darkness. Oh GOD! See what we've just done there? Compared the best with the worst of the year! Franz, we apologise sincerely. We didn't mean to draw any comparisons…hell, if you can kick Eminem's bodyguard's ass then we certainly ain't picking any fights.

!!! were the only support for the evening and were 100% groovalicious and a barrel of laughs on top. With all 8 of them taking part in the evening's entertainment from playing the trumpet, to the cowbells and even acting as their own roadies at times, it was a chaotic mess that produced the most wonderful sounds. Vocalist, Nic, is an even worse, and hence more amusing, dancer than Har Mar Superstar and Robert Harvey combined. Plus, would you ever see them walking the barrier like a tight rope, whilst singing and dancing in order to get the spotty looking stoners at the front of the stage to

actually wiggle their pasty white, skinny arses? I think not. "Hello? Is This Thing On?" was 7 minutes, or thereabouts, of pure dancing mayhem ending with Nic screaming at the crowd to show some appreciation for them; veins protruding from his head and his neck turning bright red. We certainly weren't going to mess with the

man. These guys are so punk, it's unbelievable…literally. "Me and Guiliani Down By The School Yard" was met by a warm reaction from the diehard !!! fans in the house and it finally got people moving. Shame it was kept for the penultimate song of the set.

"We know you didn't come to see us tonight but please just try and dance and show your appreciation…we'd love to say thanks to everyone down the front who were smiling and dancing during that last song, it makes things feel so much more worth it."
No sir, thank YOU very much. Certainly not "ShitShitShit".

After problems with the drums' microphones, Alex's amp, Alex's microphone and just about everything else Kapranos related on

stage, the band made their low key entrance. All walking briskly onto the stage, one or two waves thrown in the direction of the crowd, who were by this time speaking in tongues due to the godly presence of their heroes, it was clear that the boys were nervous about living up to the expectations of the hometown crowd. But after the

first 4 notes of "Michael" exploding out of their guitars, and the audience's mouths, there was no stopping anyone in the room from smiling and bouncing about with excitement, even the notoriously gloomy looking Bob…what an achievement.

"You're the best fucking crowd in the world!" exclaimed an exasperated Alex as he laughed excitedly, looking into the eyes of his sidekick Nick McCarthy; the batman and robin of the music scene for sure. The two then proceeded to deliver all the hits. "Take Me Out" was introduced by a rhetorical "Who wants to dance?" and the intro to Matinee had everyone churning out the dance moves from the video in tremendously bad fashion…DIY considered ourselves too cool for this sort of behaviour and proceeded to throw ourselves about in the way that only we can do best.

The other album tracks played, that would be ALL of them, were all greeted warmly with "Tell Her Tonight" and "Auf Asche" proving to be two of the highlights of the night. "Darts of Pleasure" was truly a beautiful moment. As

Alex stared in a maniacal, almost satanic, way at the crowd as he sang you could feel the darts pierce your skin, forcing you to dance or suffer the fate of the man from whom they take their name. But it was the non album tracks that provided the true highlights of the evening. "Van Tango" is one of the band's most danceable tracks

but was not, unfortunately, known by many people at the show. "Shopping For Blood's" pounding intro and satirical lyrics ("I am the New Scottish Gentry/Anglified vowels, sub London thoughts") prove it to be yet another unsung wonder of the Franz set. And then we were treated to a taste of the new album in the form of "Your Diary". With its folky intro, it was expected to be Franz's only ballad, but we were kidding ourselves. It suddenly burst into the most frantic and funk ridden track the band have ever written; it was huge.

Franz conquered the minds, bodies and souls of every single person in the venue that night and they provided an evening that will stick in the hearts of everybody who attended for a very long time yet. "Zie Franz" are perfect. We honestly cannot fault them in any

way, shape or form. Recorded; they liven up your bedroom/living room/car with art-rock tunes the likes of which have not been heard since the glory days of Talking Heads. Live; they manage to stir a frenzy so wild and intense that shows they have no intentions of slowing down or losing their place at the top of their fans'

"Favourite Bands" lists. Truly the best show the Barrowland has ever seen, surely.

Review and photos by Jason Edwards

www.franzferdinand.co.uk
www.brainwashed.com/!!!