Cover Image: Alex Kapranos delivers peak rock-star athleticism during Franz Ferdinand’s high-voltage set at Ice Cream Factory. Photo: Stuart Mckay.

Franz Ferdinand
ICF: Warehouse, 26 November 2025

Lucky, lucky, we’re so lucky!

For all the complaints about tours we miss in Perth, barely a week goes by without a couple of awesome national and international acts coming through. This week it was Franz Ferdinand and their charming frontman Alex Kapranos tearing up the Ice Cream Factory Warehouse.

With a perfectly chosen support act in Teenage Dads getting the industrial environs buzzing, this was an all-night dance-rock party. The Dads may look like teenagers, but they’ve got the right amount weirdo in their Strokes-meets-post-punk-revival sound. Good value frontman Jordan Finlay boasts a ridiculous bouffant, but he was the coolest kid in the house extolling strange sounds and “woo-oh-whoo!”s like a siren over the likes of Terry and Weaponz.

The ICF warehouse vibe is cool AF, but the sound can get murky down the sides, even close up, so you’re better off in the middle, in front of the sound desk. It took us a few songs to work this out but that didn’t stop Franz Ferdinand delivering the hits early. They had the crowd heaving from opener The Dark of the Matinée, appropriately welcoming us to “this academic factory”. Smart.

Walk Away earned the first of many singalongs—it wouldn’t be a Scottish band without some anthems (well, unless you’re Mogwai). 40’ worked over the “la la la’s” and No You Girls was an amping crowd pleaser, while new song Build It Up felt like it’ll be in the setlist for many years to come. Of the six tracks lifted from this year’s The Human Fear, this and first single Audacious were the highlights, while Hooked got the younger Franz fans dancing up a storm with its cheesy, Benny Benassi-inspired electro.

Crucially, they never played two in a row from the new record, which meant momentum didn’t dip. The bangers were placed evenly throughout, and we never waited long before a Michael or Ulyssessent the room nuts. Plus, this is a band used to headlining stadiums, so Perth was effectively getting an intimate version of Franz. Lucky lucky!

Yes, Do You Want To was the star of the show’s first half, and the amount of crowd involvement was impressive to say the least. Likewise, Jacqueline took the encore to new heights and was arguably song of the night—it’s hard to believe they often don’t play this one. We so lucky!

Which isn’t to minimise just how huge Take Me Out was. The anticipation was so rife that Kapranos declared we should “just put (our) phones away… or stick them in your ass!” in a particular moment of hilarity. One of noughties rock’s great floor fillers, it was as epic as we could’ve hoped for: that rare song where every lyric seems like the hook and the crowd even sings along to the guitar riff.

As good as these crowd-pleasing moments were, Franz don’t just rely on their biggest hits, and Outsiders in particular exceeded its recorded counterpart. Closing the main set with all five band members circling and thumping the drumkit, abandon was in the air and the vibe was palpable.

The real star here is Kapranos, whose Scots accent and suave croon bely a flexible rock and roller’s spirit, with the moves and attitude to match. His ability to work the crowd without resorting to (too many) cheesy pop star cliches—we’ll just pretend the irritating crouch and jump during finale This Fire didn’t happen—he was the conductor, and we were choir. Shout outs to everyone else who danced “like a beautiful dance whore”.