Concert Photos: Franz Ferdinand 08.22.09
August 23, 2009 by FromTheCrowd
Filed under Concert Photography
Franz Ferdinand opened for Green Day on August 22, 2009
Photo Credit: Stephanie Baldwin
If the images fail to load, please visit: http://www.fromthecrowd.com/Franz082209/album/
Artist of the Month Franz Ferdinand
August 14, 2009 by FromTheCrowd
Filed under Artist of the Month, Music News
Franz Ferdinand has been selected as our August Artist of the Month and will be performing in Phoenix on August 22 supporting Green Day. Fan reviews have been poping up all over the internet since they started their supporting role of this tour, and it appears that Franz Ferdinand lives up to their 2006 NME award for’ Best Live Band’, which makes From the Crowd even more excited for the upcoming concert.
Formed in Glasgow, Scotland the band is composed of Alex Kapranos (lead vocals and guitar), Bob Hardy (bass guitar), Nick McCarthy (rhythm guitar, keyboards and backing vocals) and Paul Thomson (drums, percussion and backing vocals). The band is named after the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, whose assassination preceded World War I. The band picked it after seeing a racehorse called The Archduke Ferdinand. They began discussing the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria assassination and World War I and eventually decided to use the name as their band name
You might be thinking, this band sounds familiar, and they should be. In January, they released their third album, “Tonight: Franz Ferdinand” which debut at #9 on the Billboard charts. Anything? Their sophomore album, “You Could Have It So Much Better” also hit it big on the Billboard charts in 2005. Ok, remember that song in 2004 that had everyone seeing ‘I donno’ and then bopping around, well maybe that was just us, however, this Scottish rock band hit it big that year with single ”Take Me Out”. The addictive beat and lyrics helped them cross across the pond to become fairly main stream here in the states. If this still doesn’t ring any bells, you might remember their performance at the Grammy Awards in 2005 where they performed “Take Me Out” as a live medley with Los Lonely Boys, Maroon 5, Black Eyed Peas and Gwen Stefani. Still not there, play guitar hero? “Take Me Out” is a featured song. Yes… see you do know them.
Coming back to present day, “Cant Stop Feeling” is the third single to recently hit the airways, released on 6 July. You can hear it playing on 103.9 in Phoenix. Then again, just go out and grab their latest CD, you won’t be disappointed. Better yet, grab a ticket to the concert on August 22. Two great bands in one night? Well worth the price.
We will be sure to link our concert review and photos shortly after the August 22 performance. In the mean time, here is the Franz Ferdinand official bio, to provide you with a more intimate look at the band:
The marquee of a theatre before a show.
It’s music of the night: to fling yourself around your room to as you psyche yourself for an evening of hedonism, for the dance-floor, flirtation, for your desolate heart-stop, for losing it and loving losing it, for the chemical surge in your bloodstream. It’s for that lonely hour gently rocking yourself, waiting for dawn and it all to be even again.
By the end of 2006 we were exhausted – physically, emotionally and creatively. We’d been in the studio or on the road for three years without a break and we needed one. Alex went to Vancouver with the Cribs, Paul raised a family, Bob made a film and Nick disappeared in South America. We met up again in Glasgow a few months later, happy to be in each other’s company and excited about creating something new.
Nick found a building for our HQ. He has a knack for it. It was a crumbling Victorian town hall, recently vacated by the drug rehabilitation unit that was the last tenant. The flock wallpaper was peeling a little and the psychedelic municipal carpet was browned with fifty years of council nicotine, but the vibe was great and the monthly rent was half the daily rate of a London studio. There was a noise complaint from the nearby home for the deaf after our first session, but after we blocked the windows with fibreglass and rockwall nobody knew we were there. Daylight disappeared and night became permanent. We didn’t notice it, but the mood of the record began to form.
We started writing, but there wasn’t a plan. There has never been a plan. As we wrote songs, we played them out at gigs – not huge gigs, but sweaty pub basements and social clubs, keeping it word of mouth and chaotic, giving the new music room to live or die. You don’t realise what’s good about a song until you play it to people. You also don’t know if a song’s crap until you play it to people. ‘Anyone In Love’ died in the Captain’s Rest, but Turn It On turned us on. ‘English Goodbye’ died in the British Aluminium Club, Fort William, but Ulysses became something more than it was when we left Glasgow.
We spent a few days with Brian Higgins and his Xenomania team in Kent. We enjoyed the time and it was inspiring, but it became clear to both of us that we shouldn’t make a record together. Our worlds are too different.
The HQ evolved into a studio with the help of Paul Savage. Paul was drummer of the Delgadoes and the engineer at Chem 19, the Chemikal Underground studio in Glasgow. We brought over an old Flickinger console that Bill Skibbe found for us in Michigan and Allen Johnston wired the rooms.
Then we met Dan Carey. He was perfect as a producer – a mad mixer, a chaotic experimenter. Recording with him is like breaking into a science lab with a mischievous brainbox who wants to see what we can blow up. We had a laugh.
Nick climbed into the rafters of the hall to hang a mic from a thirty foot cable which Dan swung across an amp kicked over and feeding back from Alex’s guitar, so we could warp the sound with the Doppler effect of a passing racing car or a diving spitfire on What She Came For. A gaggle of obscure and long forgotten 70′s synths were mobilised for the likes of Can’t Stop Feeling & Lucid Dreams. Superslinkies hung from the ceiling as primitive spring reverb. Sometimes, on the likes of Live Alone, we’d go super hi-fi and tight in the dead room, then, on tracks like Send Him Away we’d rock out in the cellar under the stage, playing to one mic, so it sounded like it was just you and the band in the room when you played the tape back. We rattled human bones for percussion on No You Girls and sang into the darkness, nothing for company apart from the tingle on your spine and the ghosts of the Saturday night dancing.
Anyway, here it is. Tonight: Franz Ferdinand. You can listen to it quiet, but it’s better loud. You can listen to it
Picks of the Week Greenday
August 14, 2009 by FromTheCrowd
Filed under Event Announcements, Pick of the Week
Looking to attend the concert of the year with thousdands or a more intimate show? We’ve got both this week! If you’ve got the money we suggest BOTH!
If you’re up for what is guaranteed to be one of the best concerts of the entire year and rock out with thousdands Green Day is the concert for you!
Green Day
w/ Franz Ferdinand
US Airways Center, Phoenix
8:00 PM, All Ages 08/22/2009
If you’re looking for a more intimate experience check out:
Cancelled – Daughtry
w/ David Hodges
Marquee Theatre, Tempe
6:30 PM, All Ages 08/18/2009
Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs are joining Green Day
May 14, 2009 by FromTheCrowd
Filed under Music News, Upcoming Events
Franz Ferdinand and Kaiser Chiefs are joining Green Day on the road throughout late-July and August. No opener has been announced for the beginning leg of the 21st Century Breakdown North American tour.
Franz Ferdinand is touring in support of their third album, Tonight: Franz Ferdinand throughout the U.S. and is gearing up for the June 1 release of its follow-up, Blood, a remixed version of Tonight. Currently the Kaiser Chiefs touring Europe and Asia in support of their 2008 release, Off With Their Heads.
# with Franz Ferdinand
* with Kaiser Chiefs
