i shot franz ferdinand! (the band.. with a camera..)

orpheum theatre | boston, ma

4.12.2025 | 8 pm

lineup: @franz_ferdinand @the_telescreens

franz ferdinand took over the orpheum stage in boston this past saturday, touring their latest album, the human fear, their first release in seven years. the scottish band formed in glasgow in 2002, and first experienced chart success with their second single “take me out”. the song reached #3 on the UK charts. shortly after they released their self-titled debut album franz ferdinand which entered the UK album chart also at #3. 

walking into the venue i was surprised to see rows of seats, gorgeous ceiling frescoes, and viewing balconies. my first thought was, “a rock show? with assigned seating?” 

the opener, the telescreens are a new york based band who brought a punk rock presence to the theatre. the energy felt young, aggressive, and untamed which was a bit odd in contrast with the space. frontman and lead guitarist, jackson hamm, encouraged the audience to rush the stage and in essence, be punk. the band played their biggest song, “phone booth” and taught the audience the chorus of “lost ants” to sing along with them. the song “johnny” was what really stood out to me in the set. jackson hammed up the theatrics of his performance during this song which follows the story of the lead singer’s encounter with a man named johnny. it felt reminiscent of a 1980s grunge narrative music. jackson did lose some of the audience when he took a break in the middle of the piece to yell, “johnny was confused” at the audience. i look forward to see where this band goes but i have not been quite converted into a fan yet. the persona of the lead singer, jackson, does show a lot of promise if he can find his niche and build that fanbase. i will be keeping an eye out for their future shows.

i’ve known of franz ferdinand for four years now, since adding “take me out” to my spotify liked songs in 2021. not to mention, the song makes an appearance in my favorite comfort comedy movie, “please don't destroy: the treasure of foggy mountain”. more recently, my friend introduced me to “this fire”. i will admit i’m a little late to the game when it comes to discovering more of their discography. but you can blame it on my somewhat odd method for discovering new music — i’m working on it. so all in all, i was absolutely over the moon excited to hear these songs live.

the entire venue could not remain seated even before the band took to the stage. everyone, from middle aged white dads with their small kids, to high schoolers, to goths, and punk rockers were on their feet anxiously waiting. something i really appreciate and admire about franz ferdinand’s fanbase is the age range its fanbase and ability to remain relevant from when they first blew up in 2004 until now, 21 years later. alex kapranos started the show off with a bang, launching into “the doctor” one of the songs off their latest album, the human fear. immediately i observed that frontman alex kapranos has the mannerisms of an 80s boogie rocker or fruity man. i also had never put

together that those mannerisms were so similar. watching the set progress and kapranos doing an increasing amount of star jumps i began thinking to myself. i am almost adamant now that he should stretch his splits so instead of every time he star jumps he ends up doing a straddle jump instead. that would be so impressive and unexpected.

i have never seen so many dad-types absolutely getting their boogie on and getting lost in the music. the amount of plaid shirted, black belted, khaki wearing men i saw cautiously put their arms to their chest and shake invisible maracas was many — honestly i found it rather endearing. the band played a wide variety of songs from all of their albums: the human fear, tonight, you could have it so much better, of course franz ferdinand, and more. i was nodding my head along to every song because even if i didn’t know the lyrics, the melody, baseline, and drums were infectiously good. i became an instant fan of “do you want to” and “no you girls” which makes me think i need to spend some time going through their discography more in depth. there are 100% some gems in there i have yet to hear. for “black eyelashes” kapranos swapped out his guitar for the bouzouki, a homage to his paternal greek heritage. i had never heard the bouzouki before but even from my vantage point, i could see the instrument was beautifully painted and sounds a bit like a subdued banjo (if that makes any sense). 

kapranos then switched back to his guitar and took a moment to speak with the audience. he asked if this next song we would not record, to enjoy and savor the song and moment together. i looked to my left and watched my seat buddy whip his phone out and start recording. a hush had fallen across the crowd because this speech could only mean one thing, it was time to be taken out. as soon as the sound of the opening chord left the guitar the crowd went nuts. people tried to rush the stage only to be apprehended and sent back with a guilty look on their faces by security. which again, why was a rock show seated? there’s no feeling quite like hearing one of your favorite songs live. it was like an electric current with everyone scream-singing the song at the top of their lungs, headbanging to the beat of the song, and jumping when the feeling couldn’t be contained. kapranos came down from the stage and walked down the aisle for the song “hooked” as everyone who could see him screamed and clapped. just like that they exited the stage without even playing “this fire”….

the band exited the stage as the cheering grew louder for an encore which the band obliged graciously. they played four songs and the crowd was absolutely sure that one of these songs was going to have to be “this fire”. the band cheekily saved it for the final song of the night. man, was it perfect. a majority of the song is instrumental so about halfway through the song guitarist dino bardot and kapranos jumped down from the stage for an epic guitar battle down the middle aisle of the venue. people in the crowd were absolutely losing their minds and trying to get a fist bump or high five. 

franz ferdinand is a must see band. having experienced their show live, i can confidently say that they are 100% worth the money. 

xoxo

ruse