Franz Ferdinand: Hits To The Head Tour 10/11/2022

I thought it would be a fantastic idea to book Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs back to back when I saw they were performing consecutive nights at the Hydro. I remember getting these two bands mixed up when I was a teenager, though I’ve come to realise they have little in common apart from releasing music at the same time. Seeing them live has been an incredible experience and they have both exceeded my expectations. Admittedly, I only had one FF album before seeing them live (yes, the one with ‘Take Me Out’ on it) but I want to get all of their other albums and fix that gaping hole in my collection as soon as I possibly can. Their songs are proper ear-worms and I have had the opening numbers from each night stuck in my head for the past couple of weeks. I’m excited to explore the rest of their discographies and find more favourite songs to add to my ever-growing list.

Even though public transport is frequent and reliable in Glasgow, to my knowledge, I prefer to walk whenever I have the opportunity. I enjoyed getting to The Hydro via the river walk more than cutting through the city. The river route is definitely a lot more scenic if you decide to venture there by foot from the city centre, especially when the bridges light up after dark. You have to cross a lot of roads either way, so it doesn’t make a lot of difference. People were getting impatient and many started charging across the roads before the lights come on allowing them to cross, which could be dangerous. Drivers must get so fed when concerts are on. I got there about an hour before doors opened and barely anyone had arrived yet. I was the first person in my lane and security didn’t mess about with mine but other people weren’t so lucky and a girl who had been waiting a long time was asked to move queue, so she stood at the front of a different one after pleading with everyone in it. It wasn’t very well organised. The woman who put my wristband on (it was green with a diamond pattern) took a long time to get it to “stick” and I felt so much anxiety with people flooding past me into the venue. I got a good spot in the end though, by the edge of the walkway on the right-hand side. I love walkways but I’ve seen people complain about them, preferring traditional stages because it helps them know where to stand. They do look quite far away when they are on the main stage, when you are at the end of the walkway.

I bypassed the merch stalls both nights as I needed to keep my money for my holiday to the USA. I admired the t-shirts and saw people wearing them, which made me a little envious as I was dressed quite plainly. All I ever seem to wear is band shirts now but it makes getting dressed in the mornings a lot easier. The stalls were crowded, so I didn’t get a good look at what was on offer but whatever was there was clearly popular as the queue was nearly out the door. I wish I could buy endless merch but I am not made of money. It was a very special homecoming show for the band and they didn’t let us forget it. These kind of shows are my favourites because musicians tend to give that little bit extra and usually make more of an effort to interact with the crowd. It had been a while since FF performed in their home city of Glasgow and you could tell they were raring to go and loving every moment of it. They made me forget about the horrific start to my day after my bus broke down and transported my mind elsewhere for a couple of hours, which I’m extremely grateful for. I had a lot to feel stressed about.

The opening acts were Medicine Cabinet (also Scottish and gaining a fair bit of popularity on social media lately) and Los Bitchos (who have the most interesting Christmas song I’ve ever heard with quirky lyrics such as “Christmas time, sexy times”). Neither band were my cup of tea but they were undeniably talented and optimistic enough to get the crowd going and keep them excited throughout the duration of their sets, which should be applauded. MC has an intense style which either instantly reels people in or keeps them at arms length until they can figure them out a bit more. They don’t make the kind of music you hear all of the time. LB’s music is mostly instrumental and although it was upbeat I found myself daydreaming about tasks I needed to complete the following day. This could just be down to personal taste and I also had a lot on my mind with the holiday coming up and needing to get last-minute things sorted out. But they weren’t as distracting as FF, who took my mind off things completely.

You could sense the excitement in the air when FF took to the stage. Somebody filmed the dramatic opening sequence with the curtain and shadows of the band members before it dropped and they broke into the opening number, ‘The Dark of the Matinee’ (possibly my favourite song of the night). I watched the video three or four times to relive the experience, it was that well done. The YouTube videos give a good sense of the atmosphere in the arena that night but nothing compares to being there and soaking it up in person. Alex Kapranos did a fair bit of jumping around and encouraged everyone to do the same. It didn’t take a lot of convincing to get people bouncing up and down but I don’t like to because I’m very tall (which jumping accentuates) and I’m always afraid I’m going to land on someone’s feet or I’ll end up with bruised toes myself. Maybe I’m getting old and boring but in my defence someone stood on my toe once and the pain was immense.

Most people know FF for their biggest hit single ‘Take Me Out’ but they have many fantastic songs including ‘Walk Away’ (I didn’t catch what AK said about this song regarding their new drummer Audrey but it sounded important), ‘No You Girls’ and ‘Darts of Pleasure’. The beginning of ‘Take Me Out’ was incredibly drawn out to amp up people’s excitement and remind them of how this is the big moment of the night. I loved hearing this song live as it’s such a huge and iconic anthem. Not many people out there haven’t heard of it. It seems like the band really enjoy what they’re doing too, which added to the already brilliant atmosphere. Later into the night the band were joined by both opening acts for a massive jam session and FF’s ex-drummer Paul Thomson surprised us all by making an appearance! I imagine he only came to this night of the tour, since it was Glasgow.

AK introduced another of their well known songs ‘Jacqueline’ by explaining she is in fact a real person who was a big inspiration to the band when they were starting out, though she was twenty seven when they met and not seventeen as the song implies. She couldn’t be here on this night as she had a meeting in Lanarkshire the next morning. There were a few people from there in the crowd, who let him know this loudly. People are usually very proud to announce where they are from. A massive fan of the band near the front of the stage got to sing a verse of one of the songs (I forget which) when AK held the microphone to him and he looked extremely chuffed to get his big moment. Maybe the band know him from attending many of their gigs? I don’t know. It’s funny when you start to recognise the same people at these things. There was a good mix of ages but I’d say it was mostly younger people in their early twenties. Slightly younger than I guessed the majority of their fan base would be.

AK discussed how special and emotional this show was for him and the band, saying he always loves performing in Glasgow, which he still considers home. He even ended the show by diving off the end of the walkway and crowd-surfing his way back to the stage. I’m wondering whether this was a spontaneous act as security jumped into action and looked surprised and concerned when they’re usually so straight-faced. He completely disappeared for a minute or two until he was lifted up by everyone in that area. The two girls he (kind of hilariously) knocked to the floor during this wild moment were hauled up on stage as a sort of apology and were even invited backstage. I’m glad I didn’t choose to stand in that exact spot because I came close to doing so and I would have been mortified scrambling on stage like that in front of thousands of people, though it would make a good story for this blog. It was a brilliant and very memorable night and I’d love to see FF again if I get the chance.

GALLERY:

Triumph 

Crowd-surfing, kind of!

The girls who almost got concussions