FF + DC4C = Neato

Last night I saw Franz Ferdinand and Death Cab for Cutie at the Aragon Ballroom. It was fun. I went with a large group of people with varying levels of experience with both bands; the newbies and the old hats both seemed to like the show a great deal. DCFC was definitely worlds better than their last show in Chicago, which pretty much put me to sleep.

Franz Ferdinand was good- they are a little formulaic in their catalog, a problem I also identify with similar bands like the Strokes and the Killers. Obviously, their songs differ a lot, but in their live show the subtle differences often aren't obvious. The star of their show is clearly drummer Paul Thompson, who was given room to extend songs as well as leading several percussion solos/jams. I thought that singer Alexander Kapranos was good and had a lot of personality, but not very precise in his notes and had a bit too much of the dark "indie-whine" found on many Interpol tracks.

Death Cab was great. They came out and started slow with Passenger Seat and Different Names for the Same Thing. Ben Gibbard's voice was very clear in a usually muddy acoustic setting like the Aragon. Then they got things rocking a little more with The New Year, Why'd You Want to Live Here, Photobooth, A Movie Script Ending, and a loud rendition of We Looked Like Giants with Ben Gibbard on the drums. The closer was Sound of Settling. Overall, they mixed the old stuff with the new stuff, playing a couple off of We Have the Facts and at least one off of the Forbidden Love EP (I don't have the full setlist). The encore was predictably slow- I Will Follow You Into the Dark and Transatlanticism. Overall, the energy was much better than last time, and the crowd was really into it. Death Cab has redeemed themselves for me, and have earned at least one more show in Chicago. Franz Ferdinand probably doesn't have quite enough for me to see them by themselves, but were worth getting there early for.

Highlights: We Looked Like Giants, A Movie Script Ending, Transatlanticism

Notable Absences (IMHO): Tiny Vessels, Death of an Interior Decorator, Marching Bands of Manhatten, I was a Kaleidoscope, Blacking Out the Friction.

This weekend is definitely going to be a Fritaturday. I don't know how many more of these I can handle.