Concert Review: Franz Ferdinand (Neighborhood Theatre Charlotte)

BY JILL POOLE

Franz Ferdinand christened the newly renovated Neighborhood Theatre with an almost religious fervor Tuesday night. Alex Kapranos held the capacity crowd in thrall from the moment the band took the stage. The current tour is called Greater Glasgow European Cultural Exchange and it definitely felt like an exchange between the band and the crowd for the entire show.

Since their 2002 debut, this Glasgow band has seen some personnel changes The current lineup of Bob Hardy, Dino Bardot, Julian Corrie, Audrey Tait, and Alex Kapranos has been together since 2021. Founding member and lead singer Kapranos has a great rapport with the crowd, and the band’s performance is energetic and dramatic. Some artists can command a stage and Karpranos is clearly one of those. He encouraged the audience with grand gestures and often got down on eye level with those closest to the stage as well. This is a band certain of their ability to work a crowd - even tossing their 2003 hit “Take Me Out” at random in the set rather as their last song or using it in their four-song encore.

Franz Ferdinand was the first show in the Neighborhood Theatre after eight weeks of renovations to the sound and lighting systems. And the upgrades were appreciated by returning fans. As Kapranos told the crowd that they were the first act in the revamped space, the crowd cheered. A great first show to launch the new Neighborhood Theatre!

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JILL POOLE

It’s Christmas. I think I was 7. And there’s an album with my presents. The Everly Brothers Greatest Hits. I was hooked - I still have that record and a few more. On my 16th birthday, I got a job just to buy a real stereo, and more records. I still have all that “vinyl” as we call it today, and my 1977 Advent speakers connect to a Sonos system now.

When I was younger I had a love-hate relationship with live shows but it’s all love now. And I always watched the photographers in the pit. (And tried to take the perfect shot myself on an increasingly capable iphone) But for the last few years I’ve had an actual camera again and it’s so much better.

I want people who couldn’t BE there, who couldn’t get up to the stage - I want them to see what I saw - to feel what I felt.

You can’t hear a photograph, but sometimes... if it’s a good shot - it’s almost as if you could.

Read Jill's posts here.