Franz Ferdinand @ PJ Molloys, Dunfermline, 31 Jan

Tonight’s tiny show as part of Independent Venue Week reveals that Franz Ferdinand are still a bloody great band

Live Review by Max Sefton | 03 Feb 2022
  • Franz Ferdinand live at PJ Molloys, Dunfermline, 31 Jan

This year’s Independent Venue Week sees a host of big stars and up-and-comers crammed into tiny venues across the British isles, and what a treat Scotland has in store. At Dunfermline’s PJ Molloys tonight, Franz Ferdinand are ready for a victory lap as they gear up to promote their forthcoming greatest hits album Hits to the Head

With ten million albums under their belt and six million tickets sold they’re as close as Scotland gets to modern rock royalty, so everyone packed into the pub – albeit one with a fine musical pedigree of its own – knows they're in for a treat.

First up though, it’s the turn of Hamish Hawk and his backing band to race through a short set of their own flamboyant rock songs. Though he has been knocking around the Scottish music scene in one guise or another for a decade, last year’s Heavy Elevator was a noticeable leap forward and it’s from this record that almost all of tonight’s songs are drawn. 

After stark opener Vivian Comma, Hawk thanks our headliners for having him along and notes three things he learned from Franz Ferdinand: “Always wear a shirt, have angular cheekbones, and a little German goes a long way”. 

Tracks like This Whatever It Is Needs Improvement, and The Mauritian Badminton Doubles Champion, 1973 are a gladioli away from The Smiths, while Caterpillar channels Joy Division’s stark Mancunian miserablism. Best of all though is the stomping Bakerloo, Unbecoming, a track whose dramatic delivery and couplets like 'When I picture you, I picture a whirlwind blue' capture exactly what makes Hamish Hawk such a compelling character. Danke, Hamish. 

Just a few days before the show, our headliners dropped a neatly-choreographed video for Curious, one of two new tracks attached to the aforementioned greatest hits and the first recordings from a new-look lineup of Franz Ferdinand. Audrey Tait of Broken Chanter (as well as the wonderfully inventive and sadly defunct Glasgow hip-hop outfit Hector Bizerk) is on drums, with Julian Corrie from Miaoux Miaoux on keyboards and ex-1990s guitarist Dino Bardot.

Both meet-cute character study Curious and the other new track Billy Goodbye get an airing tonight but the rest of the show is given over to the solid gold crowd pleasers on which the band have made their name. From an opening romp through The Dark of the Matinee to a ceiling-scraping closing version of This Fire, it’s a set that’s as lean and fat-free as svelte singer Alex Kapranos.

In the two decades that have passed since Franz Ferdinand first exploded onto the Glasgow scene, talk of “angular” guitars and a post-punk revival has gone in and out of fashion but tonight’s setlist makes a good case for them having aged gracefully – their self-titled debut still sounds razor sharp while melodic moments like Walk Away and Do You Want To make clear that they’ve always been much more than a Scottish Strokes. By the time Take Me Out echoes off the rafters, it’s almost too much for a pogoing crowd. 

Feted by younger peers, sharing collaborations with legendary indie icons like Sparks and with a date at Glasgow’s Hydro among those on the cards in 2022, it’s easy to cast Franz Ferdinand as remote rock royalty. Tonight’s tiny show reveals that they’re still a bloody great band. 


franzferdinand.com