Franz Ferdinand and Telescreens in Montreal
Shot by Sarah Evangelista / review by Lucas Rotondo
April 14, 2025
Montreal, QC @ MTELUS
Glasgow's very own Franz Ferdinand blessed the attendees of MTELUS after nearly 3 years since their last visit with the Hits to the Head tour in August of 2022. Now returning in celebration of their sixth full-length studio album The Human Fear we welcome them back with open arms for a fantastic return that gathered both old and new fans alike. Although the stage wasn't adored with much in terms of stage design both bands performances more than made up for the simple presentation.
Speaking of which, the opening performance of the tour were a band by the name of Telescreens, whose New York indie/garage sound was more than welcome among indie forerunners that are Franz Ferdinand. As the first few songs were played I feared the crowd might not have been up to matching frontman Jackson Hamm's energy and enthusiasm, although it wasn't long before he was able to turn the crowd's favour. All it took was a little light-hearted heckling to get the crowd standing, clapping and singing along. Although fronting a completely different sound to the likes of The Doors, Jackson's idolization for Jim Morrison was hard to hide. From unplugged chanting, chaotic, almost psychedelic instrumentals and lines of spoken word poetry, Jackson wore his inspiration on his sleeves (Or lack thereof in this case). Although it did take some time for the crowd to turn around the set ended with both viewer and band more than satisfied as Jackson let out a touching “What an amazing group of people!” as their final song came to an end, a jam packed 40 minute preformance.
Frontman Alex Kapranos, bassist Bob Hardy, Julian Corrie on key, guitarist Dino Bardot and finally drummer Audrey Tait, join together on stage as Franz Ferdinand walking out to "The Naked Gun" theme, admitingly I fear I was a tad too young to understand the reference, if not for the help of the internet I would have been none the wiser, luckily enough I was definetly in the younger end of those attending that night. A pleasant surprise to myself and im sure many others, Frontman Alex Kapranos greeted the crowd in French and would continue to do so for most of the night. Starting off the eveing strong with an introduction to their new album with "Bar Lonely", although not reinventing the wheel, it stood as a fitting start to the show with a new song that fits comfortably among their catalog, fortunately this was not reflective of the experimentation yet to come.
The first example of which would be the heavy synth of "The Doctor" which gives the band a chance to step out of their norm with something more lighthearted and pop sounding, following with "EveryDayDreamer" giving original bassist Bob Hardy a chance to show off for its 3 minute runtime. My personal stand out of the evening and of the new albums would be "Black Eyelashes". Alex Kapranos dawns a Greek bouzouki (A type of lute) and put on a show that would be welcome in any midievil tavern, a sound that not only surprised me but something I never knew I needed upon hearing it, the sound of the bouzouki couldnt help but put a smile on my face. This is all the more surprising giving this piece exists on the same album as "Hooked" which was clearly the most electro-sounding of the night greatly juxtaposing the simple sound of the previous "Black Eyelashes"
Addressing the crowd in French once again Alex attempts to get everyone to put their phones away for a single song, knowing very well what was about to be played only made me feel slighty guiltripped but Alex's “juste pour le moment entre vous et nous.” got me to suck it up and live for the following moment as the opening for "Take me out" started and the crowd appropriately erupted. Without a phone in sight the floor started going crazy, dancing and screaming it was refreshing seeing all ages join in for such an amazing moment, clearly the peak of the evening and what most had been waiting for.
The night closed with one of my personal favorites "This Fire" putting an end to a beautiful show and its encore, absorbed in deep red neon Alex commanded the crowd to crouch down and jump to their feet at the drop of the music bringing everyone together one last time, ending the 90-minute performance. A phenomenal evening.
