Franz Ferdinand debuted six new songs from their upcoming album ‘The Human Fear’ at a show in Scotland this week – check out footage below.
The indie greats were playing the first of a run of three Scottish shows at the Strathpeffer Spa Pavilion in the Highlands on Thursday (September 26) and took the chance to give several new tracks their world premiere.
As well as the live debut of the album’s lead single ‘Audacious’, Franz Ferdinand also played ‘The Doctor’, ‘Bar Lonely’, ‘Night Or Day’, ‘Hooked’ and ‘The Birds’.
Sharing an excerpt of ‘Audacious’, the band wrote on X after the show: “Strathpeffer, thanks for helping us kick off these shows in the right way. Next up is Stirling, see you tonight.”
Strathpeffer, thanks for helping us kick off these shows in the right way. Next up is Stirling, see you tonight.
📸 – Martin Clark pic.twitter.com/SLO7NXnZ1E
— Franz Ferdinand (@Franz_Ferdinand) September 27, 2024
In fan-captured footage from the show, we also got our first glimpse of ‘Hooked’, a twitchy indie pop number with a heady, synth-driven chorus that sees frontman Alex Kapranos repeating, “Ah, you got me hooked”. Check out that footage here:
Thank you @Franz_Ferdinand for an incredible night in Strathpeffer! Just what I needed after a stressful week! #FranzFerdinand #Scotland pic.twitter.com/qZd8yACWV2
— Rockatiel (@RockatielBlogs) September 26, 2024
Fantastic night seeing @Franz_Ferdinand @StrathPavilion ❤️ pic.twitter.com/s4L7jAcMNE
— David Heane (@davidheane) September 26, 2024
Snapshot of @alkapranos in Strathpeffer ignoring my request to play Van Tango @Franz_Ferdinand pic.twitter.com/Mktutvsbj9
— Ryan Ⓥ (@r_vv_) September 27, 2024
Franz Ferdinand played:
‘The Dark of the Matinee’
‘No You Girls’
‘Audacious’
‘Walk Away’
‘Do You Want To’
‘The Doctor’
‘Michael’
‘Darts of Pleasure’
‘Bar Lonely’
‘Love Illumination’
‘Night or Day’
‘Take Me Out’
‘Ulysses’
‘Hooked’
‘Outsiders’
‘This Fire’
‘Jacqueline’
‘The Birds’
The band’s sixth album will be released on January 10 (pre-order/pre-save here). It is the long-anticipated follow-up to the group’s dance-driven 2018 album ‘Always Ascending’.
Speaking to NME recently, Kapranos explained: “It feels great to be putting a single out after a wee while, but this is also the beginnings of a new album. That’s a big milestone in Franz Ferdinand history.”
As for what fans can expect from ‘The Human Fear’, Kapranos added: “I’m not going to give away too much now because there’s still a bit of time before the album comes out, but I will say [‘Audacious’] is not the only sound that you’re going to get on the album – quite extremely far from it in some cases.
“I don’t think there’s a single song that you’ll hear on the album and won’t think, ‘Oh, is that Franz Ferdinand?’ At the same time, they will be thinking, ‘Oh, did they really do that?’ That’s not to say I start rapping or anything like that.”
This week, the band also announced a North American headline tour for 2025, which will kick off in Seattle on March 24 and wrap up in Toronto on April 15. Tickets are on sale now and you can get yours here.
Preceding those dates will be a trio of shows in the UK, with two nights at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire on March 5 and 6 and a show at Glasgow’s Barrowland Ballroom on March 7. Find any remaining tickets for those shows here.
