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Franz Ferdinand
The Scottish band Franz Ferdinand took the Benicassim Festival stage on a Saturday in July and displayed the driving post-punk verve that broke them across the bow of the music scene in 2004. Opening with a crunching rendition of 'Come on Home' and following up with 'Auf Achse', the band proved that the flash that many expected to be left behind in the pan was hardwired into the band itself and not simple music industry special effects. Once the band's harder stuff was thrown under the bus, they sidled into their slower tunes like 'Walkaway' and 'Eleanor Put Your Boots On'. The live rendition seems to have become a psuedo-country gospel song backed by some luscious piano.
Once the band had
come around to their iconic 'Take Me Out', the crowd was so far into the show
that it seemed near anti-climax, but the ground-shaking delivery of the song
broke this illusion in quick order and the attendees were soon screaming the
words in unison. Winding then into the newer stuff from You Could Have It So
Much Better, including 'Fantastic Passion' and the title track, Franz Ferdinand
ground out one of the best performances of the festival. The set ended with
'The Outsider' and a fusion drum solo that led into 'This Fire', sealing the
band's status notches higher than many gave them credit for.
Franz Ferdinand
took their name from a racehorse by the name of Archduke. Wait, you say, that's
not the band's name. The name actually came from the horse in an odd,
stream-of-consciousness manner. Archduke became Archduke Franz Ferdinand and
eventually the Archduke was dropped for the present name. One of their songs
titles, 'All For You Sophia' got its name from the Archduke's wife Sophie.
Franz Ferdinand
is comprised of Alexander Kapranos on lead guitar and lead vocals, Robert Hardy
on bass, Nicholas McCarthy on rhythm guitar and keyboard and Paul Thomson on
drums. Thomson did not make an appearance at Benicassim as his wife had just
given birth to their child.
Benicāssim, or
Festival Internacional de Benicāssim is a rock festival held in Benicāssim, Spain since August 1995. Growing with each
successive year, the festival has featured acts such as The Stone Roses, The
Jesus and Mary Chain, The Cure, Echo and the Bunnymen and Pet Shop Boys. This
years festival featured over 100 acts and ran for five days, from July 20th to
July 24th.
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