“Collaborations don’t work / they don’t work, they don’t work / I’m gonna do it all by myself…” laments Alex Kapranos of Franz Ferdinand during Franz Ferdinand & Sparks’ sold-out show at London’s Troxy; “they don’t work, they don’t work…” spits back Russell Mael of Sparks. It is a fascinating and fierce exchange by the two frontmen during the closing number of the show, doused in the spotlight, circling each other like vulture and prey. “I don’t need your patronizing…” teases Mael during the bridge of the song, which is swiftly met by Kapranos’s “I don’t need your agonizing…”. It is a modern rock opera taking place on the stage, a melding of musical artistry to produce an unbelievable aural creation; the Frankenstein’s monster of the progressive, alternative art-rock genre. The title of the aptly-named set closer, ‘Collaborations Don’t Work’, is a fantastic number of gigantic irony woven into a big, fat, giant, ugly, purple lie. Because if the last hour and a half proved anything, tonight was a showcase of everything but a collaboration not working.
It is a night where music has been taken out of its comfort zone and placed in the passenger seat with no seatbelt or airbag. Not just for the two separate bands performing as one, but for both sets of fans, as well. Older and increasingly grey-haired attendees with a rockabilly soul sporting ‘Sparks’ t-shirts sneer at the art school females with turquoise hair donning ‘Franz Ferdinand’ blouses. It is as if each set of fans is asserting their place in the Troxy, adamant to win the competition of musical passion – the Team Jolie vs. Team Aniston war of modern rock. But when the lights dim and and all four members of Scottish art-rock heroes Franz Ferdinand and both brothers of new wave cult icons Sparks appear on the stage as FFS, to boisterous applause, band division is forgotten, competition of passion buried. By all accounts, FFS shouldn’t work. Sparks have been careful to avoid ‘pop’ conventions in the past, while Franz Ferdinand embrace the pop and mix it with every other genre imaginable. But somehow, it works. Somehow, FFS work. For tonight, the two bands are unified to create a stunning collaborative effort that renders them as one.
Just twenty-four hours after FFS played the John Peel Stage of Glastonbury, Franz Ferdinand & Sparks dazzle the packed Troxy crowd with pulsating performances of songs taken from their debut collaborative album, FFS, released earlier this month. The album is a stunning effort, a record tinged with elements of the dramatic and abstract. Opening the set with lead single and arguably best track, the piano-weighted ‘Johnny Delusional’, Alex Kapranos and Russell Mael share vocal duties and mirror eccentric dance moves whilst Ron Mael take to the keyboard, Bob Hardy mans the bass, Nick McCarthy handles the lead guitar, and Paul Thomson is on drums. While it might seem as if Franz Ferdinand & Sparks simply combined both of their sounds equally, this is not the case. What FFS spawn is not purely a mixture of both bands’ sounds into one, but an entirely new creation that takes certain aspects of both elements of music. Their sound is a daring accomplishment, an unconventional aural delight, a cross-generational experiment between two extraordinary bands. It is Sparks meets dance-rock, Franz Ferdinand meets chamber pop. And then some.
The group, of course, make sure to perform covers of their own individual songs. Again, it is not simply as if it is Sparks covering Franz Ferdinand or vice-versa; it is FFS, a brand-new entity, covering Sparks and Franz Ferdinand. ‘Do You Want To’, the first massive sing-a-long of the night, is reworked with a sinister keyboard opening, while ‘The Number One Song in Heaven’ gets a bass-heavy, funk guitar-centered, progressive rock makeover. Walls are torn, fences are destroyed, and comfort zones are tested. Kapranos, atypically guitar-free for the majority of the FFS songs, mirrors co-singer Mael’s whimsical dancing to make use of his now empty hands that have so been used to being locked into the familiarity of strumming. For ‘So Desu Ne’, the whole band is taken apart and re-assembled, Thomson shifted to steel drums while bassist Hardy and guitarist McCarthy play keyboards, side-by-side. Even McCarthy gets his first ever run as lead vocalist on the FFS track ‘Things I Won’t Get’, demoting Mael and Kapranos to backup (as they are happy to do), to fantastic reception. There is an incredible moment during ‘Michael’ when Ron Mael, typically scowling sedentarily at his keyboard, gets up from his stool, takes to a cleared centre stage, and begins throwing some absolutely extraordinary and spastic shapes. He grins visibly for the first time, trademark mustache twitching, flinging his arms and legs back and forth wildly like a Beefeater on an insane sugar high, the crowd cheering him on maniacally.
As comfort zones are tested, walls in the audiences are slowly brought down. Both sets of fans sing to classics ‘This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us’ and ‘Take Me Out’, the latter being the most raucously-received number yet; Mael, Kapranos, and McCarthy’s in-sync (and adorably endearing) bouncing during the opening bridge of the song emits a virus of frenzy, and the crowd (even Sparks fans!) sing every word with a deafening roar. The penultimate song of the set, ‘Piss Off’, is another crowd chorus: “Tell everybody to piss off tonight / well, they should piss off and leave you alone in your world tonight…”
We certainly hope that FFS don’t, in fact, “piss off”, of course. Tonight was an incredible performance by two incredible bands, a celebration of both the new and the old, a sensory delight, a phonic masterclass. Old fans of Sparks are new fans of Franz Ferdinand, and old fans of Franz Ferdinand are new fans of Sparks. Because when the combined initials of both your bands are “FFS”, how could you not be a collaborative effort? One that works incredibly, outrageously… fantastically well. Ffs.
Words by Cady Siregar
FFS Played:
Johnny Delusional
The Man Without a Tan
Save Me from Myself
Walk Away (Franz Ferdinand cover)
Little Guy from the Suburbs
Dictator’s Son
Achoo (Sparks cover)
The Power Couple
Do You Want To (Franz Ferdinand cover)
Things I Won’t Get
So Desu Ne
The Number One Song in Heaven (Sparks cover)
Michael (Franz Ferdinand cover)
This Town Ain’t Big Enough for Both of Us (Sparks cover)
Police Encounters
Take Me Out (Franz Ferdinand cover)
Piss Off
When Do I Get to Sing ‘My Way’ (Sparks cover)
Call Girl
Collaborations Don’t Work