Opening act were a rather intense little trio called Mazes. Not particularly accomplished musicians I thought, but I rather liked the sound none the less.
Franz Ferdinand by contrast are very accomplished musicians, with a very extensive back catalogue now, which they proceeded to show off to its full extent during this gig. I had a different pair of friends to accompany me for this gig, including my new trainee. (Well, they have their uses...) The fact that he is 6 foot 6 has its amusing side - as I looked round I could see him standing serenely aloof over the bobbing masses beneath him. And as my other vertically challenged mate pointed out, he is an excellent landmark when trying to get back to one's original place in the crowd from a loo break.
It was a very fine show in a nice venue, whose only real drawback one doesn't realise until the end. Its very slow to empty. Very.
However, the gig was highly enjoyable, and FF did seem to play a particularly long set, and indeed a six track encore which is twice the length one normally expects. They have been away for a while, which might account for the comparatively small venue. They are a very clever, arty band. This shows from the originality of their songs, like the wonderful gear change you get in "Take Me Out", the intelligent lyrics and the fact they have uniform. I rather doubt that their monochrome suits and shirt combos will catch on (please not) but they make the effort.
One other observation. For a band that have a number of very sexy songs, they are really not a very sensual act, although probably a number of the females surrounding us might beg to differ.
So, after seeing Franz Ferdinand the band, what should one do?
Well, after having a couple of beers and staying up until 2am, one should really see the original. So this is him.
Having seen James onto his train back to Leeds I thought I would go to the Portraits of the Great War exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, and Franz not unreasonably was featured. Much of the exhibition was filled with portraits by William Orpen, which is good as he is a very fine portrait artist. The exhibition is a little smaller than I expected and was rather cramped. But I would recommend it. From the big set piece portraits, like one of a somewhat younger Churchill than we normally visualise, to the paintings of ordinary men returning with faces disfigured by enemy action.
After that I had a little walk in the unseasonably lovely sunny March weather, but not too long as the streets around Trafalgar Square were teeming with people also taking advantage of the break in the rain to get out a bit.
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