Type and hit ENTER

Commonly used tags...

Brighton Festival Brighton Fringe Brighton Pride British Sea Power Cinecity Lewes Psychedelic Festival Locally Sourced Lost & Found Love Supreme Festival Nick Cave Poets Vs MCs Politics Rag'n'Bone Man Record Store Day Save Our Venues Six Of The Best Source Virgins Streets Of Brighton Street Source Tattoos The Great Escape Tru Thoughts Unsung Heroes
  • Home
  • News
  • Previews
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Food
  • Tickets
  • Contact
  • Contribute
  • Advertise
  • Home
  • News
  • Previews
  • Reviews
  • Features
  • Food
  • Tickets
  • Contact
    • Contact
    • Contribute
    • Advertise
Franz Ferdinand Brighton Dome Brighton Source Gili Davies
Albert Hammond Jr Brighton Dome Brighton Source Gili Davies
Albert Hammond Jr Brighton Dome Brighton Source Gili Davies
Albert Hammond Jr Brighton Dome Brighton Source Gili Davies
Albert Hammond Jr Brighton Dome Brighton Source Gili Davies
Franz Ferdinand Brighton Dome Brighton Source Gili Davies
Franz Ferdinand Brighton Dome Brighton Source Gili Davies
Franz Ferdinand Brighton Dome Brighton Source Gili Davies
Franz Ferdinand Brighton Dome Brighton Source Gili Davies
Reviews

Albert Hammond Jr and Franz Ferdinand review

Mar 6, 2018
-
Posted by Ben Miller

Albert Hammond Jr seems a man for a disco ball. Touring solo with a four-piece band, The Strokes guitarist’s wiry dancing exudes a distinctly New York cool – until he’s repeatedly afflicted by tiny shocks from a piece of his equipment, and has to dispense with the offending piece of kit by the side of the stage.

Albert Hammond Jr Brighton Dome Brighton Source Gili Davies

His performance is electrifying in the right sense, with songs from ‘Francis Trouble’, his new album about the stillborn twin he learned of decades into his life, sounding taut and energised. You can hear the unmistakable echoes of those spidery guitars from The Strokes’ empire-making first two releases, ‘Is This It’ and ‘Room On Fire’, as well as a flourish of funk here and there. Perhaps most striking of all is Hammond Jr’s playful, breezy charm – a superstar having fun, unwearied by all those arena tours.

Albert Hammond Jr Brighton Dome Brighton Source Gili Davies

Back in the mists of time – 2004, a distant era from which little camera phone footage exists – Franz Ferdinand were also trading in urgent bursts of on-trend insouciance. Alex Kapranos’s devilish smile and razor-sharp lyrical wit, coupled with a debut album redolent of an all-nighter at a Glasgow squat party awash with vodka, are still a huge pull here. But their trick has evolved from precocious punk to a mighty art-rock spectacle, full of rollercoaster races between seismic hooks and choruses.

Franz Ferdinand Brighton Dome Brighton Source Gili Davies

Nick McCarthy, the multi-instrumentalist who had been a founding member since their subculture beginnings, left before the recording of new album ‘Always Ascending’, to be replaced by Dino Bardot and production alchemist Miaoux Miaoux. Bardot’s sultry bass and a flash of tinkering keys from Miaoux are the underpass on ‘No You Girls’, a vehicle for the Teenage Kicks-thrill of Kapranos’s arch flirting (“kiss me where your eye won’t meet me”). ‘Do You Want To’ packs the sublime ridiculousness of vintage glam-rock, seized upon by Kapranos, in a glowering tone, repeating the mantra, “you’re so lucky”. “You’re all sexy,” he escalates, coyly adapting the build-up to ‘Michael’, a wry reminder of Franz’s whipsmart stylishness.

Albert Hammond Jr Brighton Dome Brighton Source Gili Davies

Despite the prickly, racing guitars, they unfurl these singles slowly, creating dramatic pauses and lavishly drawn-out drum crashes. If the crowd are nodding rather than dancing at the newer numbers, it’s only because the hits demand energy. The pit rushes to sing the pyromaniacal refrain of ‘This Fire’, submerging Kapranos’s yearning vocals. The last laugh, though, is all his – morphing subversive indie idealists into theatrical pop masters.

Brighton Dome, Sunday 25th February 2018
Photos by Gili Dailes.
Words by Ben Miller

Mar 6, 2018
Email
Ben Miller
Ben Miller is a SOURCE feature writer and reporter.
← PREVIOUS POST
Shonen Knife, Saturday 7th April
NEXT POST →
Zara McFarlane Review
Mailing List

Recent Posts
  • Two Decades Of Funk Fire With Jalapeno Records
    Jan 18, 2021

    A new compilation celebrates 20 years of funk and soul from world-renowned Brighton label Jalapeno Records.

  • Hansel and Gretel? | Brighton Source
    Hansel and Gretel? Review
    Dec 18, 2020

    A postmodern pantomime with an unrelaible narrator. Outdoors with comedy, dance, camp actors, plenty of fun. On two levels: laughs for kids and jokes for adults

  • Artists Open Houses 2020
    Dec 5, 2020

    After cancelling the May edition, Artists Open Houses tell us what it's like to be back with a December festival that is open to visitors in person for eight days.

  • Cinecity 2020 previewed by Brighton Source
    Cinecity 2020
    Nov 17, 2020

    From the North Laine to Mongolia, Cinecity's lineup is typically eclectic and original this year - catch it before the city's key film festival ends.

  • Macbeth Review
    Nov 2, 2020

    Macbeth in Brighton. One-act play with Scottish Gaelic sounds by This Is My Theatre. Power, ambition, murder, blood. The woods are moving.

  • Lost & Found: Poison Girls
    Nov 2, 2020

    As part of our retrospective series on local bands we look back at the hugely influential and ever-challenging anarcho-punk collective Poison Girls.

  • The Rose Hill | Brighton Source
    Save Our Venues – The Rose Hill
    Oct 26, 2020

    We spoke to the team at the Rose Hill to find out how a series of new creative projects is helping this unique Brighton venue to cope with the current crisis.

  • Spillage! Review
    Oct 19, 2020

    This one-person, one-act play is giddy, funny and seriously entertaining. An odyssey through the madness of corporate pressure on our mental health.

Website developed in Brighton by Infobo
Copyright © Brighton Source 2009-2020
Albert Hammond Jr and Franz Ferdinand review - Brighton Source