Franz Ferdinand // Commodore Ballroom
Living the millennial dream, Franz Ferdinand headlined at Vancouver’s Commodore Ballroom on an unusually warm Tuesday evening in March.
With the Junos in town for the weekend, there was an excited buzz to the city, with Franz Ferdinand set to play 2 shows back to back on the 25th and 26th. This was their first headline tour back in Vancouver since 2018 and post you-know-what shut down the world.
The opening act was presented by a what felt like a garage band of lads from Los Angeles and now based in New York, Telescreens.
They oozed confidence on stage with lead singer Jackson Hamm carrying himself with the same level of confidence as a performer decades older. The energy coming from the entire group was high octane, with keyboardist Josiah Valerius and Bassist Austin Brenner creating an engaging mix of crunchy guitars, sublime electronics and vocals that meandered between solid rock and the stuff of shoegazing.
Though it was their first time playing in Vancouver, they worked the tough crowd (as many a support act in Vancouver can attest to), enticing them in by the middle of their second song. Once the crowd had properly warmed, the band’s drummer, Oliver Graf, led them into a stampeding beat that felt reminiscent of rock bands from the 2010’s. Fitting, seeing as who they were opening for.
The complete band looked like an 80’s dream, in 2000’s form, playing songs in 2025. The cross era songwriting, really took the crowd on a lyrical and musical journey. Hamm announced they were playing 2 more songs but were urged by a frazzled stage manager to only play one more, after going into overtime.
In between sets the eclectic crowd consisted of ladies in floral tops firmly in their 50’s, 40 year old rock guys clad in leather jackets, and millennials in ‘a fancy top and good jeans’, with a few younger 20 somethings sprinkled amongst the rest.
10 minutes past set start time, an unexpected jazzy intro blasted into the space, welcoming Franz Ferdinand onto stage. Then we were off to the races. With little aplomb, the band threw themselves into their first of a 20 song set, Night or Day.
Alex Kapranos performed with a careful Scottish diction and imperfect pitch that felt effortlessly cool in a way only the Europeans seem to have mastered. The compression on Kapranos‘ live vocals held a 60’s nostalgia, reminiscent of rock and roll gods of the past, with their slicked back hair and shiny suits.
Bassist, Bob Hardy, and drummer, Audrey Tait, kept the flow running in the fast paced set, rolling from one song to another seamlessly.
By song 6, Do You Want To, the audience was lapping up every one of Kapranos‘ commands. Waving their hands back and forth, clapping on beat, and singing entire parts of the song back to him.
Dino Bardot and Julian Corrie (on guitar and keys respectively) felt very much like the glue to the fast paced flow into each new song, with the frenetic guitar melodies and keys leading the way without much fanfare, unless you count the matching beats played by Tait.
There was a great moment when the crowd participated in a call and response of sorts, with Alex singing the lyrics to Bar Lonely, then holding his microphone out for the crowd to sing the next lines. It felt like everyone knew all the words by heart.
When the melodic song Stand on the Horizon finished, Krapanos took his first sip of whatever he was drinking from his white coffee mug, while a stage hand bought out a mandolin for him. They flew into Black Eyelashes, a Greek inspired track that instantly transported the venue to a Greek island somewhere.
Driving track Michael threw us right back, firmly into the rock set, the crowd jumping up and down until the floor shook.
They shared an endearing story about how they didn’t play Lucid Dreams the last time they were here in Vancouver after a fan had requested it; Alex explained that the band hadn’t rehearsed it back then. To make up for it, they played it in its entirety this time, hoping that the same fan was out there in the crowd and listening.
Prominently their most famous song, Take Me Out came towards the end of the set, the crowd scream-singing their way through it while hyping each other up.
They closed out with Outsiders but came back with an encore of four more songs for the chanting crowd.
9.87.10
Write up: Melissa Riemer
Photos: Louis Lay
