Franz Ferdinand Live at the Neighborhood Theater
Tuesday marked the grand reopening of Charlotte's iconic Neighborhood Theatre after a two-month hiatus for renovations, revealing an acoustic precision that ensured every syllable is heard clearly through the roar of the sold-out floor. Franz Ferdinand took the NoDa stage on August 11, reclaiming the room with style. The moment the house lights dimmed, the room caught big, brassy, lounge-orchestra horns. Not a guitar, not a synth pad. Horns. The kind that play a man in a tuxedo onto a stage in a room with a two-drink minimum. Ira Newborn's theme from “The Naked Gun”, off tape, at volume, in NoDa, which is not how anybody expects this band to start a show. As the sold-out crowd spent thirty seconds watching the band step out and lock into stunning, dynamic poses, the upgraded lighting rig sprang to life, bathing the entire stage in deep red. Alex Kapranos (Lead Vocals and Guitar) came last, hit his pose, and let the room have three full seconds of him before a single note was played. If you dare blink, you will miss it. Then The Dark of the Matinée, and the floor tipped over on its head.
Now full disclosure; I have been listening to this band since high school, their unique soundscapes in my headphones, in my car stereo and in my friends basement speaker. Tuesday was the first time I have ever been in a room with them and honestly, I did not expect it to land in my chest the way it did. Bob Hardy (Bass) delivered a warm, full sound that seamlessly cut through without overpowering any of his bandmates.
Special shoutout to the opener, Sunday Mourners, who drew the strange assignment of playing the very first set in a venue everybody came to look at. Quinn A. Robinson (Vocals and Guitar) looks like he wandered off a back porch, picked up the wrong guitar on the way in, and decided to keep it. All rustic calm and thousand-yard delivery. Behind him, the rest of the band locks into jagged, sharp art-punk lines that completely reject any rustic porch roots. Maxwell Pugh (Guitar) and Casey Conklin (Bass) weave together into tight unison before ripping apart again, while Z Evan Long (Drums) drives the rhythm just beyond comfortable territory.That contrast is the whole trick and it works. Their debut, A-Rhythm Absolute, came out in January and is definitely a band to watch out for.
The front of the house is one open common space now, bar down one side, merch table across from it, and by the third song the gap between the two had quietly become a second dance floor. What got me was who was on the dance floor. People who look like they have been coming to this building since it still showed movies, out there next to people who found “Take Me Out” on a playlist last year, and nobody too cool to be seen enjoying themselves. They were grooving to the whole set too, not just the parts they walked in knowing. That is what this setlist does. It gave the impression it was built like a DJ set that happens to have guitars and synths. “Do You Want To” is not a request. Jacqueline still opens quiet and then kicks the door off the hinges. Michael had the balcony moving, and the new songs held their ground right alongside it.
Kapranos is a pure cinematic marvel for anyone in person at the show, commanding the stage with an electric, magnetic energy. On two distinct occasions, he lunged toward the barricade, bridging the gap so the front row could vibrate right alongside the anthems that anchored the entire night. Behind him, Julian Corrie (Keyboards, Guitar and Backing Vocals) lays chords under choruses that on record are only guitars, and Dino Bardot (Guitar and Backing Vocals) brings the dirt. And Audrey Tait (Drums and Percussion), wow. She played that famous four on the floor with an actual swing in it, and the difference between a machine doing that and a person doing it is the entire reason this room could not stand still.
Then, thirteen songs deep, “Take Me Out.” Everybody knows what that slow strut at the front is doing. It is a setup, a joke twenty-two years old, and when the tempo drops through the floor into the riff the whole building loses the plot at the same instant. Chef's kiss. This is the song people buy the ticket for, and by now the band has every excuse to sleepwalk through it. They do not. That is what legendary looks like. The room is back. The band is back in full swing and the show was total cinema. What a great way to spend a Tuesday night in the city. What a show.
