Posted March 21, 200916 yr Having already decided to go and see The Killers in Paris on Thursday night, it was perhaps quite fitting that I should then discover that Franz Ferdinand were also playing there the night before. After all, the original Franz Ferdinand’s death led to an awful lot of killers. On a more musical note, both bands released highly acclaimed debut albums and then went on to avoid the dreaded “second album syndrome” by releasing excellent follow-ups. This only added to the pressure on them for their third albums (I’m not counting Sawdust as a “true” album as it was a compilation of b-sides and other bits and bobs). Of the two, The Killers’ Day And Age has easily out-performed Franz’s Tonight but I think they are both pretty good albums. One thing I had forgotten from previous gigs in France was that the time shown on the ticket is the time the first band comes on, not the time the doors open. A couple years ago that led to me missing part of The Coral’s set when they supported the Arctic Monkeys. This time, I missed the very start of each support act but caught most of the set. I was tempted to avoid Franz’s support on the assumption that a band called Kissogram couldn’t possibly be any good. Equally, if I’d known they were from Berlin, I wouldn’t have had very high expectations. I would have been very wrong as they were actually very good. The best description I can think of is that they are the missing link between Franz and Talking Heads. Having said that, neither of those bands is listed among their influences. Sparks are though so that’s another thing in their favour. Franz Ferdinand themselves were excellent. They relied fairly heavily on the first two albums but the singles Ulysses and No You Girls were among the songs from Tonight. The highlight of the new songs, though, was an outstanding version of Lucid Dreams as part of the encore. That came immediately after The Outsiders. Anyone who has seen them live before will have known what to expect as soon as the song started. The whole band – plus anyone else they can cajole into helping out – will end up on the drums. When I saw them in Brighton in 2006, they had about a dozen people banging the drums by the end. It’s become a key part of their live show and long may it remain so. Finally, all credit to Alex Kapranos for addressing the audience in French most of the time, even if it was mostly pretty basic French. After all, it was simple enough for me to understand it. The Killers’ support band were called Louis XIV. How do they pronounce their name? They called themselves Louis Quatorze on the night but maybe that was just because they were in Paris. They might normally call themselves Louis 14 perhaps. Or maybe Louis 14th (as Americans they’d omit the “the”). Or could it even be Louis Ziv? Anyway, were they any good? They had some good songs and some not so good songs. The one they were playing when I arrived was pretty awful. They saved the best till last with a song co-written by a certain Mr. Brandon Flowers. The Killers, as expected, were amazing. Brandon Flowers is a great front-man and a brilliant showman. They opened with their massive current hit, Human, and proceeded to play a good mix of the hits and songs from Day And Age. Towards the end, it was time to start guessing the order in which the remaining familiar songs would be played. And, sure enough, All These Things That I’ve Done was indeed the final song of the main set. That left three songs which seemed certain to feature in the encore. And Bones and Jenny Was A Friend Of Mine duly featured as the first two songs on their return. The World We Live In was next (I should have guessed that as well) before proceedings were brought to an end with a storming When We Were Young. When Sam’s Town came out, I saw the band at the Bataclan in Paris, a great venue with a capacity of approx 1200. The Zenith, in contrast, holds over 7000. For a venue of its size, it’s OK but I much prefer smaller venues. The size of the place meant that Brandon wasn’t as chatty as before. You can’t really try and have an intimate conversation with 7000 people – most of whom probably only understand half of what you say anyway. One more word on the start time. When I went to the Zenith I thought I could just get off the metro and follow the crowd. Unfortunately, there was no crowd as most people had already arrived. I got there in the end but not exactly by the quickest route.
March 21, 200916 yr Thanks for posting this. Interesting read - sounds like you had a great time! I can imagine 'Lucid Dreams' being an awesome encore, especially the synth breakdown in the middle/ towards the end. I have to say though, I was disappointed by the third albums from both bands (especially the Killers) , after great debuts and follow-ups :(
March 21, 200916 yr Louis XIV are Louis 14th. I first discovered them on Zane Lowe's show in 2005 with their single 'Finding Out True Love Is Blind'. I bought their album on the strength of it and it is quite good, although some of the lyrics are quite risqué. Their follow-up released last year was abysmal though, I didn't even make it all the way through! Pitchfork's review is quite amusing to be fair... http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/4981-t...crets-are-kept/ I saw Franz Ferdinand when they toured their second album. I did enjoy it and they were good, though they were completely overshadowed by their support that night, Editors, who were much better live!
March 21, 200916 yr Author Louis XIV are Louis 14th. I first discovered them on Zane Lowe's show in 2005 with their single 'Finding Out True Love Is Blind'. I bought their album on the strength of it and it is quite good, although some of the lyrics are quite risqué. Their follow-up released last year was abysmal though, I didn't even make it all the way through! Pitchfork's review is quite amusing to be fair... http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/4981-t...crets-are-kept/ I saw Franz Ferdinand when they toured their second album. I did enjoy it and they were good, though they were completely overshadowed by their support that night, Editors, who were much better live! Editors were certainly a better support on that tour than Louis XIV. Of course, they'd already enjoyed some success by then which is more than can be said of Louis XIV. At least I know how to say their name now :lol:
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