Straight off the plane from Fiji, sunburnt and dog-bitten, i made my way to the Enmore Theatre for Franz Ferdinand.

It was like 2004 all over again with Red Riders in support. It was the debut show of new guitarist, Brad Heald of The Vines. I guess he’s got time on his hands after The Vines indefinite hiatus.

Middle support was The Temper Trap who i think are rather awesome. Their live show expanded the four piece into six piece and sounded pretty amazing. They’ve conquered the local airwaves, getting a flogging for Sweet Disposition on Triple J and commercial radio and look set to do the same in the UK with the BBC and XFM both naming the band as ones to watch in 2009. The Aussie hype band of 2009.

And then it was the main event with Franz Ferdinand. I was a little unsure how they’d go down after being quiet for so long, but as soon as they strode on with confidence and charisma they had the crowd on side. Playing sing-a-long Do You Want To second song was an inspired move.

I’d tell you how the rest of the show was too but us photographers get turfed out after 3 songs.

On another Franz Ferdinand note, the artwork for their new album is pretty cool. It’s all Weegee inspired, shot in black and white and looking like crime scenes. On their blog Alex Kapranos writes,

“The photograph was taken by Soren Starbird by the side of the Barras in Glasgow. We’re shooting a series with photographers we like in different cities we end up in. The Ulysses cover was taken in Brooklyn by Guy Eppel and we were in Paris and Warsaw with Youri Lenquette and Joe Dilworth recently. They’re shot as imaginary crime scenes, invaded by the photographer. A slice of night frozen by flash.”

Clever idea and some great photographers. Nice to see a band come up with a creative concept for their photos. Would’ve been nice to do a Sydney one.