FFS in DC

Last night the wife and I saw FFS at the Lincon Theater (the jewel on U Street). That's the supergroup(?) made up of Franz Ferdinand and Sparks. The set consisted of twelve songs from their debut album and three Sparks and Franz Ferdinand songs each. The groups meshed together well and really looked like they were having a blast playing together (except for Ron Mael but he's supposed to look like that). The new songs are what one would expect from Sparks (and Franz Ferdinand, I guess, I don't know much about them), with witty wordplay, high energy and came off well live. The only exception would be "Dictator's Son" and "Little Guy from the Suburbs" - a little too slow for my taste. Yesterday also happened to be Russell Mael's birthday and one would have never guessed how old he was (67!) watching him jump up and down and run around for 90 minutes. When Alex Kapranos brought it up, Russell joked that "they say when you turn 40, it's all downhill but it hasn't happened yet". During the musical interlude in "Number One Song in Heaven", for Ron's little shuffle dance that he does, he put on a party hat as well. I have seen Sparks before and will always go when I get a chance but now I also will check out Franz Ferdinand as well.

The opening band was The Intelligence. They started off well with an eerie keyboard number but unfortunately, the keyboard was abandoned after that for an early Gang of Four sound that was ruined by the loud propulsive drumming. Though one song pretty much stole the rhythm of "My Sharona", the set was rather monotonous.

Set List:
Johnny Delusional
The Man Without A Tan
Police Encounters
Do You Want To (Franz Ferdinand cover)
The Power Couple
Little Guy From The Suburbs
Save Me from Myself
Things I Won't Get
So Desu Ne
The Number One Song in Heaven (Sparks cover)
Michael (Franz Ferdinand cover)
This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us (Sparks cover)
Dictator's Son
Take Me Out (Franz Ferdinand cover)
Piss Off
Encore:
When Do I Get to Sing "My Way"(Sparks cover)
Call Girl
Collaborations Don't Work

Russell Mael is amazing onstage. He's one of the most physical performers I've ever seen and I only saw him at the tender age of 65 on the last Sparks US tour. He was stomping and running around onstage far more then most singers, and at the time, I thought it may have had something to do with the "Revenge Of Two Hands, One Mouth" tour where it was just Ron on keys and Russell singing. I thought without drums to keep time, he may have had to internally physicalize the rhythms to facilitate the tempos. It now sounds like that's just his performing style. How lucky for you to have seen this show. It took forever for Sparks to finally visit the less fashionable Southeast quadrant of America to where I could see them after only four hours of driving in a major metropolis nearby. Heck, just getting a US date anywhere has been difficult in the last 20 years.



Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

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I interviewed Russell a while back when Sparks brought their two-man show to Fun Fun Fun Fest. He was a really nice, smart guy.

The piece.

Many thanks for the report, Heff! I'll be visiting Colorado this weekend, and have gotten a ticket to see FFS in Denver. One of my best friends has recently moved back to Denver from the east coast, and he's as stoked for this show as I am. The tour isn't coming to Seattle, so I'm extremely fortunate.

As for The Intelligence, I'm usually a big gan of that Go4 sound. Hopefully the band will resolve the issues with sound quality as the tour gets further west.

Great show in Denver! The setlist was similar to the DC show, with the addition of Franz's "Eleanor Put Your Boots On" and Sparks' "Achoo." The group told us that the latter was making its live debut -- as well as being the first song that Franz Ferdinand played when they first got together.

It was the first time I'd seen Sparks in person, but I'd seen them on TV enough times to know the Mael brothers' shtick. My college chum was unfamiliar with Sparks, though. We ended up right in front of the stage, and Ron was standing right in front of us when he broke into his big dance routine. After watching Ron glower and scowl for half the show, seeing him bust into that wide grin and that dance -- and then get himself back under control and return to his keyboards –- just about made my pal wet himself with laughter.

Glad to hear it was great. Maybe the success of this will encourage Sparks (with a full band) to tour the US again.

The Intelligence opened in Denver too. I guess they got the sound issues ironed out, because they sounded fine. Good blend of hardcore Devo, Delta 5, Au Pairs, Pere Ubu and some spooky Wall of Voodooesque keyboards for good measure. And a pretty chaotic, exciting stage presence toward the end. I met the two guitarists at the swag booth, bought a CD and asked where they're from. "Seattle," they said. When I told 'em where I live, they laughed and said they never thought they'd meet a guy from Everett in a Residents t-shirt.

Ron Mael is a holy man.



Former TP subscriber [81, 82, 83, 84]

[postpunkmonk.com]
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