Franz Ferdinand At MTelus

For those that were around to remember, the early 2000’s were kind of rough for rock music.  The charts were dominated by the last gasp of the boy and girl-bands, some solo offshoots of the genre and lots of R&B.  Rock music wasn’t very visible at the time, but from across the Atlantic Ocean came a series of bands with guitars blazing.  Named after the Archduke of Austria, whose assassination was one of the events that led to World War I, Scotland’s Franz Ferdinand was one of the groups that fought to bring rock and roll back to the people.  They’ve continued to do so for over twenty years now and they were in Montreal, at a sold-out MTelus, to show that not only is rock not dead, but it’s alive and jumping.  No, I didn’t mix up my sayings, I really did mean jumping.  Franz Ferdinand opened their set with “Bar Lonely”, a track from their latest album, The Human Fear.  After sauntering on to the stage to the theme from the Naked Gun films, singer Alex Kapranos made his way over to Audrey Tate’s drum kit and leapt in to action.  It was the first of many leaps on the night as Alex Kapranos spent almost as much time in jumping into the air as my energetic three-year old does on any given afternoon.  Franz Ferdinand brought twenty years of rock to the party.  The set list was a mix of songs from The Human Fear, which was just released in January, and the hits that everyone has been enjoying since they burst onto the scene in 2003.  Alex Kapranos also endeared himself with the Montreal crowd by chatting with them in an impeccable French between songs.  No matter the language that was spoken, everyone was having a great time.  All of the photographs were taken at f/3.2 while using various different shutter speeds, ISO setting and focal lengths.  Here are the rest of the photographs that I took of Franz Ferdinand while they performed on the MTelus stage.

 

 

If you would like to find out more about Franz Ferdinand and their music, you can do so by following the link to their website.  If you would like to see the photographs of Telescreens, who performed earlier that evening, you can do so by following the link.  Much thanks goes out to Evenko and Christopher Gonda of V13 Media for getting me a pass to photograph the show.  As always, it is very much appreciated.   Franz Ferdinand have wrapped up this leg of their tour, but will be traveling again soon.  After a short break, they will be in hitting Europe this Summer before returning to North America in the Fall and then later this year hitting Japan.  If a good old fashioned rock and roll show is what you are looking for, then be sure to check out Franz Ferdinand when they play in a city near you.