Franz Ferdinand: The Human Fear Tour!

Story and Photos: Spencer Fleming

Another busy week for shows around here. Tuesday (10.7.25) saw the return of Scottish band Franz Ferdinand at The Admiral. Last night (10.8.25) Cursive played a legendary set at the Waiting Room showcasing both Domestica and The Ugly Organ in full. Saturday (10.11.25) Pop-punk staple All Time Low hits the Steelhouse. It's a great time for live music in Omaha!

Jumping back to Tuesday, I was stoked to finally see Franz Ferdinand on a headline date. I had seen them in 2009 when they opened for Green Day in an arena but this would be so much different. With a smaller room you feel the electricity in the air, see the sweat on the singer's face, even get a fist bump or catch a guitar pick!

The band opened with "Dark of the Matinee", one of my favorite tracks from their 2004 self-titled debut. I closed my eyes for a moment and felt so much nostalgia rushing back. To be honest I was really heavy into Franz in the 2000s but my fandom waned a bit after their second album. I was reacquainted with the band when they appeared in the Sparks documentary. Their latest single got a decent amount of airplay on our local station 89.7 The River and you could say I was "hooked" again! I had a chance to check out Franz's latest album The Human Fear and there's some real standout moments. From "Hooked", to "Build It Up", "Audacious", and "Black Eyelashes" just to name a few.

Franz didn't shy away from the new material playing seven of the 11 songs on The Human Fear. You can tell when a band is proud of their latest work. Rather than slipping in a couple new ones for the crowd to take a bathroom break, they showcase the album front and center. Granted, this can go sideways if the album is not very well received.

I once paid $80 to see Billy Corgan play a small club. I say Billy Corgan because he was the only original pumpkin at the time and unbeknownst to the crowd he played a new concept album in full and only dished out one classic hit at the end. It almost makes it worse really. He had the ability to play said classic hits but chose not to. To say I was upset would be a massive understatement. He later made it up to Omaha on the Smashing Pumpkins reunion tour playing all the hits but I still have some residual feelings and find myself referencing Billy as "Old Pumpkin Head". Until I get a personal apology the moniker stands. Anyways, sorry for the rant there. Where were we? Oh yea, Franz melted our faces!

Franz Ferdinand led by front man Alex Kapranos put on an amazing show with so much energy. For a guy in his 50s Alex hasn't showed any signs of slowing down. Several times throughout the set he could be found doing split jumps and dancing all over the stage. The band sounded really tight as a unit and had the crowd on their feet from start to finish.

Of course the room exploded when they played their signature hit "Take Me Out". The combination of the stomping beat and jangly guitars is so unmistakable. There's a reason it pops up in TV shows, commercials, and video games. Surprisingly they didn't close with the song though. They saved another cut from their self-titled album, "This Fire" for the very end. By the time they played "This Fire" it did feel like the city had been burned to the ground! Or the stage at least.

Franz Ferdinand is a band you should definitely see live once in your life. Hopefully they'll keep the party going with more music and tours for years to come. Don't sleep on these guys. This was one of the best shows of the year!

Thanks to Franz Ferdinand management for photo access. Thanks for reading and we'll see you at the next one!