Franz Ferdinand: London Secret Gig Shock - xclusiv Photos / Report
By: Toby L
Under the sneaky pseudonym of Mars Hotel, Franz Ferdinand performed an uber-secret gig last night (Weds 15th December) in London to commemorate the tenth anniversary of cult, underground record-label/promoters, Guided Missile - one-time management-company of the ensemble in a previous line-up. And rockfeedback was there.
The 250-capacity show, originally scheduled for Guided Missile's regular venue, the Highbury Buffalo Bar (also The Basement Club's home), additionally featured sets from the likes of solo rap-noise-comic Spinmaster Plantpot and twanging-noiseniks Country Teasers, and was held at the rather traditional Mildmay Social Club in Stoke Newington.
Evidently, Franz Ferdinand saw the event as a 40-minute opportunity to delve into obscurities and new songs, despite initial nerves. With a mammoth stage bedecked in tinsel and Christmas fervour, the band opened with 'Tell Her Tonight', within which the slightly free reign nature of the performance became somewhat glaringly evident: the microphone belonging to guitarist Nick McCarthy - who leads the vox in the song - wasn't even switched on.
Some laughs later, and comforting swigs of Guinness all round, the likes of b-sides 'Van Tango' and 'Shopping For Blood' were unveiled, alongside spiky, disco-punk new tunes the band appeared to be arranging in earnest directly on the spot ('I'm Your Villain' proving the most rabid highlight, while 'Your Diary' and 'It's So Easy' also provoked airings). The set was rounded off with a cover of The Fire Engines' 'Get Up & Use Me', amid a flurry of devoted female observers at the front drunkenly frolicking, plus hasty run-throughs of 'Jacqueline', 'Michael' and an exhaustive 'Darts Of Pleasure'. The applause became deafening.
So, it's probably the best we'd seen them. If only through way of fervent bizarreness over the whole set-up. The band round off 2004 with triumphant homecoming shows this weekend at Glasgow's SECC on Sat 18th and Sun 19th Dec. Well done, boys; it's been your year. More images? Go on, then.
