Allston Pudding’s Chloe Gomez and Helen Chen teamed up to review and photograph Brooklyn based Frankie Rose and Glasgow based Franz Ferdinand at The Orpheum Theater on Sunday night
Photo by Helen Chen
Frankie Rose
While Rose’s ethereal pop tunes are better suited for a smaller open spaced club venue rather than seats in a down sloped theatre (Oh hello vertigo!), link the half filled theatre of people that showed up in time to see Frankie perform were grooving to songs like “Night Swim,” “Into Blue,” “The Depths,” and “Know Me.” Despite the lights being colorful to the point of confusing the venue for a carnival and a drum set that looked small enough to be a child’s toy, Rose interacted with the crowd introducing songs by saying things like, “Want to hear a spooky song?” teasing people about having to work the next morning and even blowing kisses to a group of people coming in during her set. Being a huge fan of bands that goof around on stage and give you something a little different at a show, this band really didn’t interact, but were spread far apart on a stage that looked a little too big for the four piece band. I disregarded this issue quickly when Rose stepped up to do her vocals and came in too early, like she was too eager to continue to the next verse. With a small laugh and a step back as if to avoid temptation to keep singing, Rose and her band continued on.
With a few Stevie Nicks-like hand motions and leg kicks, Rose and her band gave a solid performance highlighting her unshakable melodic vocals fit for a fairy or ghost filled dream sequence and repetitive lyrics that range dark emotions and existential questions (“Don’t ask me why, why there is sorrow. Don’t ask me why it’s a hollow […] Why? There’s no why” – Sorrow) to universal emotional bravado (“I hear what they said, It doesn’t hurt me, I’d rather be deaf” – Know Me). All I know is that I don’t want to be deaf while Frankie Rose is playing.
Photo by Helen Chen
Franz Ferdinand
Ultra sexy indie rock band Franz Ferdinand hit the scene in 2003, with their self titled album and the release of their hit single ‘Take Me Out’. That same album hit me just a few years later, when I was in the heart of my emo and punk phase and found solace in the guitar riffs featured on several tracks on the album, but was rather uninterested in the rest of it – it was too demure for me and didn’t feature any lyrics about the assorted body organs that I’d spill for someone, or gutteral screaming. Thankfully, fast forward to present day where I’ve emotionally matured to trade raw noise for style, and I am able to fully appreciate the edgy and smart sound that is Franz Ferdinand.
Beginning their performance with a violin opening and 2009 hit ‘No You Girls’, Franz Ferdinand began with striking energy, which they maintained for the set’s duration. There is just something to be said about performers who have confidence. Just as it is important when attracting a lover, there is something so desirable about somebody who recognizes how much they are adored.
This is exactly how lead singer Alex Kapranos performed throughout the night, lovingly singing much loved lyrics with the fans, jumping up and down in near semi split like fashion to the rapid and exciting escalation of the guitar and drums, and as the music would swell, stretching his arms out to the audience, grinning and opening his hands. Electric guitar / piano player, Nick McCarthy, also played with the same expressive and seemingly effortlessly cool gusto, playing his electric guitar with so much force that his head bobbed, fingers flying across the instrument in a way that exuded raw talent, giving off such a charming stage presence with his hollow cheekbones and occasional little smiles at the crowd.. sorry, is it obvious how hard I was swooning? I was swooning hard. Unfortunately for me, he has a wife. But still, Nick McCarthy if you’re reading this, you’re amazing. (And I can’t say much else publicly.)
Memorable songs included the slowed ‘Stand on the Horizon’, with swirling synth and guitars against gold and orange light, and as Kapranos sang the chorus, “Come to me,” he beckoned expressively toward the crowd; the long awaited ‘Take Me Out’ with a drawn out beginning of the already anticipatory signature electric guitar intro, which had me singing “so if you’re lonely,” definitely a few erroneous times; and a dramatically cool performance of ‘Ulysses’. As the band has released three major albums since 2003, they did a superb job of including all of the crowd’s favorite songs from all of the albums.
The Orpheum Theater was moderately packed with Ferdinand Fanz on Sunday night, a majority of whom were of the older crowd, indicative of how they were probably of an emotionally competent age to digest the initial greatness that is Franz Ferdinand’s first album. This was my first time at the Orpheum, and while the sound was prime and the venue was aptly designed so that any seat in the house is positioned for an excellent view of the performers, the novelty quickly wore off. The Orpheum is great and classy, but it wasn’t designed for the high energy of the show. Audience members awkwardly attempted to engross themselves in the music, but their range of motion was limited to the seats prodding into their backs. The lights of the band would go in tune with the music, and at times this would call for a rapid firing of lights, with house lights for added effect. This was a dire mistake at the Orpheum, as house lights totally ruined the atmosphere, turning the moment from a smashing dark and mysterious guitar breakdown to that moment right after a high school dance where everybody’s sweaty face is exposed by a harsh and unfortunate light. The infectious call of Franz Ferdinand’s electric guitar brought some fans eagerly down the aisle toward the stage, and were immediately ushered back to their seats by ushers who were seriously serious about their job (although shoutout to the moxie in the older woman usher in my aisle, who after escorting a disgruntled man about twice her size back to his seat with a stoic look on her face, began bobbing her head to the music – badass.) In checking the tickets before the seats, one usher tried to hold back Nick McCarthy before he impatiently waved his band pass at her. But really, after McCarthy’s performance maybe she was just trying to cop a feel in which I completely understand.
Franz Ferdinand delivered a funky and suave show, their energy would have probably been more ideal at House of Blues or if I had to pick just for the technicals of the venue – Brighton Music Hall (but let’s be real, this name is way too big for the sanctimonious indie walls of Brighton), as it simply could not be contained at The Orpheum. Kaparos recently revealed in an interview that there was a period where the band was seriously considering breaking up during their hiatus before their newest album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action, because being in the band had become too mundane and dangerously close to the monotonous ritual of an actual working class job, but thank god that they did not, for we all need Franz Ferdinand’s eclectic sound to bring fresh energy into the monotony of our lives.
