Franznatic in Singapore

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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. =(

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......

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:

Franz Ferdinand - What You Waiting For? (Gwen Stefani Cover)