Friday, February 17, 2006

Franznatic in Singapore

FF Live in S'pore

Headed south to catch the Fantastisch Franz live yesterday. Forked out 100 bucks for bus fare to get to Singapore. Once reached there at 3pm, did some wash-up and grabbed a quick meal, me and sis took a cab straight to the stadium. Took 10 minutes to get there, and there was already a small crowd, approximately 40-50 fans queuing up at the premier entrance. Shit, I thought I was early.

What A Crowd!

While waiting, took a glance at the merchandise stall. Planned to get the tour shirt which costs S$35 after show.

Merchandise Stall

7pm - gate opened. The security there was so much stricter than any concert I have been back in home. They scanned through every pocket, nevertheless, I still managed to smuggle in my camera. The moshpit was fully packed, I was lucky enough to be in the fifth row from the stage.

Before Show

Around 8:20pm, all lights went off, the crowd started screaming, jumping, and pushing. A dude in bright floral printed shirt with striped skinny pants hit the stage. It was Alex Kapranos, followed by the rest of the Franz boys! They kicked off the show with the snappy 'This Boy'. The crowd went crazy, and I ended up being pushed to the first row, brilliant! Lost sight of my sis, but who cares? Expectedly, they played almost every track from both albums, including hit singles like 'Do You Want To', 'Take Me Out', 'Darts of Pleasure', etc. The energy in the house was so high, everyone was singing along to the catchy choruses and waving their arms in the air.

Mr Floral Shirt & Stripey Pants

Franz Boys

One of the many highlights of the night is 'The Fallen' when Alex introduced his mates. It was kinda hilarious as he described Bob as angel; Nick as heartbreaker; Paul as pizza creature (???); Andy Knowles, former touring drummer of the Fiery Furnaces, as golden angel. In turn, Nick introduced Alex as the lead who will break all of your (pointing to crowd) hearts. With their heavy scottish accents, I just caught a bit here and there of what they were saying. Another funny part was when Alex made comments about Singapore's warm hospitality and nice food. He even named his hotel and joked about inviting the fans for a food party. I couldn't catch the hotel's name (Intercontinental??), anyway, I guess he was just bullshitting.

Mr Heartbreaker

Angel & Creature

Mr Hearbreaker #2

Andy The Golden Angel on Keyboard

During 'Walk Away', Paul took over the lead guitarist position, with Andy at the drums and Alex switched to acoustic. Awesome! Nick also showed his multi-talent by contributing vocal in 'Tell Her Tonight' and keyboard in 'Eleanor Put Your Boots On'. Another notable moment was when 'Outsiders' was played, Paul was joined by Andy and an unknown crew at drums. Paul even hit the drums with tambourine instead of sticks. My breathe was taken away by the raw drum beats, while Alex and Nick were seen doing some poseur moves, poor Bob was hiding at the obscured corner doing his own thing. =(

Paul on Guitar

Poseurs Moves

Rockin' on!

Where is Bob?

Encore part. They came back to the stage with 'Jacqueline'. When Alex hammed it up from the opening strum, the crowd got excited again. Other songs played were '40 ft', 'You Could Have It So Much Better' and 'Outsiders'. The climatic 'This Fire' was the closing piece where everyone practically went wild and screamed their lungs out. The show ended off with the band bowing to the crowd, followed by Alex jumping off the stage and shaking hands with fans (hell, the other side of the stage where i wasn't standing!). Also, Paul came in front of me and threw his stick, luck was not by my side, the fat biatch besides me got it! I tried to snatch it from her, but she was holding it so tight to her boobs, so can't help it. Argghh......

Wow So Close!?

The Last Song

What the hell that's all!?

So Close Yet So Far

Exhausted and soaked in sweat, yet thrilled. Overall, the concert was brilliant, money was well spent. Only disappointment was couldn't get any souvenir (no drumstick and tour shirt sold out).

The setlist ran:
'This Boy'
'Come On Home'
'Do You Want To'
'I'm Your Villain'
'Tell Her Tonight'
'Auf Achse'
'What You Meant'
'The Dark of The Matinee'
'The Fallen'
'Walk Away'
'Eleanor Put Your Boots On'
'Take Me out'
'Darts of Pleasure'
'Evil and A Heathen'
'Michael'
'Jacqueline'
'40ft'
'You Could Have It So Much Better'
'Outsiders'
'This Fire'

**Clearly proven that Franz Ferdinand's music really makes girls dance, the crowd was mostly young girls, some even with banners with cheesy 'I *heart* Alex' messages, eww......

Was hoping them to play this:

Labels: ,

7 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Woooooo...... while u were partying I was suffering in college XD..Anyway good job takin those pics so close up...U muz be a big pusher to get so far to the front :P Ylah no souvenirs>.<..Btw do u think those young girls really hear Franz?<(they're normally the simple plan type> Or do you think they are ppl who just like to hang out at concerts for no particular reason?

10:37 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

lol...jz grab the bladi drumstick mah, put ur hand in and run away with it...so many ppl, n since u said she was fat, can easily get away wan..ehhe

10:51 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

YAY for franZ! Ur pics rock! Alex is so cute.. I Heart alex! Wel I more then heart him lmao :p I lust him :p
ANyway seem sliek u had a fantastic time. :D And thank you for telling me the outsiders was where they had three drummers.. iw as tyring to pick it out form what I heard on my cd but I wasnt totally sure.. howver I thought it must have been hehe :D
From Cas :)

11:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Nice Pics! I also went to this gig and standed on the second row quite close to the stage but all the pics i took were blurry, *Sigh*. It was really a memerable nite! BTW, just read from the fansite forum that Alex's invitation during the gig was serious! Crowds of fans went to the hotel and got quite close to the band! So sad that i just took it as a joke :(

3:26 PM  
Blogger hazylium said...

Same here! Went to the concert, missed out on meeting them at their hotel. But it was still a brilliant concert. Kudos for actually remembering and posting the setlist! :-)

2:48 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Wow loooks like you had an amazing time you got soo close you lucky thing haha! Your photographs are ace, whenever i take photos at gigs theyre always pretty shit...argh! but yours are clear and so close up! hehehe

8:09 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

hey I'm from the franz ferdinand comm, thanks for this post, it ROCKS! by the way he wasn't joking about the fast food party, and i *think* he was being sarcastic about the hospitality in singapore - see this.

the concert sounds fantastic, i only wish i went.

jacqueline

8:24 PM  

Post a Comment

<< Home