Franz Ferdinand

You might describe 2004's meteoric rise of Franz Ferdinand as unprecedented, had it not almost paralleled the ascent of The Darkness in 2003. From 4th on the bill on the NME tour in January, to headlining two sold out nights at the sizeable Manchester Apollo is a remarkably similar leap. But, unlike last year's big thing, no-one believes that this year's heroes are a pastiche, a fad or a one album wonder. Great things are thought of and great things are expected of Alex and the boys.

But this tour is a celebration of what they have achieved thus far, and their Mercury Prize winning album was aired in it entirety with only a smattering of previously unheard material.

Opening with 'Michael' after a silhouetted entrance, they were straight into their stride and by the second song, 'Come on Home', Nick McCarthy's suit jacket had already been discarded.

They are a band of very few words, but the songs are now so familiar they need little introduction. However, there are times you wonder if they are confident with the size of the venue, almost forcing themselves to the front of the stage for those crowd pleasing moves. That's no surprise given they were playing small clubs 12 months ago.

'Matinee' is irresistible, and is the evening's biggest singalong but as you might expect, 'Take Me Out' got the loudest reception. The Circle seating shaking so vigorously that Jeff Goldblum would believe that the T-Rex was mere millimetres away.

All in all, they played for about an hour - leaving the stage for the encore after a mere 35 minutes! But it's quality, not quantity that matters. Every song was welcomed like a lost child.

Finishing on 'This Fire', Nick & Alex played back to back, front of stage. Who would have thought that former Art School students could have so much fun, a word that serious circles seem to recoil against. Nick's guitar style mimics that of a 60's 'beat combo', as seen on 'Ready Steady Go', and even that is ... well ... a laugh.

This should be the end of 'Franz Ferdinand' the album now. New songs 'I'm Your Villain' and 'Your Diary' hint at a promising future and we need to hear more of the same in 2005. Justin Hawkins' stars of 2003 have failed to kick on and are in danger of becoming a parody of themselves. Now The Darkness has disappeared, Franz Ferdinand can revel in the spotlight.

FUTURE GIGS

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