Franz Ferdinand brings down the house

All smiles, guitarist/keyboardist Nick McCarthy hobbled around the stage on crutches or with strategic hops after having done a 10 mile run in vintage sneakers and breaking his foot while at Coachella. Or so we've been told; Nick is staying mum on the exact details of his injury. For the most part he had to sit on a high stool, curtailing his usual array of spazzy dancing, but it didn't stop him from venturing out once in a while, particularly to do guitar battle with Alex during the encore just to fluster the crowd.

Alex led a call and response of "uh-huh, yeah" during "Lucid Dreams" after which there came a techno breakdown while the members of opening band, Born Ruffians, helped Paul Thomson on drums. In a one-eighty degree turn, the rock show turned into a rave and then back into a rock show as the house was, figuratively, brought down by "This Fire."

-- OLGA BAS

Previously > Patrick Wolf plays as an acoustic Bachelor