Franz Ferdinand Brought the Fire At Their Thursday Night Show in Dallas

On Thursday night, Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand kicked off their U.S tour in Dallas. Along with tour mates Vundabar from Boston, they turned The House of Blues into a dance hall.

Vundabar set the tone with their indie post-punk, their drummer never letting up on the beats. The group kept their banter short but did tell the crowd that they had been kicking it at Dick’s Last Resort before the show for dinner. The restaurant offers an experience through its deliberately rude waitstaff, and Vundabar cracked jokes about how reviews for the place couldn’t be good or bad. “We went to eat here, and they were dicks to us! Five stars!”

The lights dimmed as “Lay All Your Love on Me” by ABBA began blasting through the house speakers. Franz Ferdinand took the stage. The band hadn’t been in Dallas since 2018. Singer Alex Kapranos began gliding up to the mic, and without a stop they ripped right into “No You Girls.”

Jump after jump, Kapranos commandeered the stage like it his own personal dance floor, playing all the bangers from their entire career, recently compiled and released on their newest album Hits to the Head.

Kapranos shared his adoration for Dallas, and his fond memories over the time he spent in Bishop Arts mixing the group’s FFS album with producer John Congleton. They also kept their banter to a minimum, letting their music and dance moves do the talking. Seemingly every audience member sang along to every word and even the guitar melodies.

Toward the end of the night they brought out a different set of toms and new drummer Audrey Tait beat away at them on the stage floor while the boys crowded her drum set and had their go at percussion. Ending their set with a three-song encore of “Billy Goodbye” “The Fallen” and “This Fire,” they showed Dallas that they can still set fire to any city.