Do You Want To?

Franz Ferdinand and TV on the Radio @ The Theater at Madison Square Garden 10/17/05
Having seen Franz Ferdinand during their 1st US tour ever (at the tiny Mercury Lounge) 2 years ago and 4 subsequent times since then (in progressively bigger venues leading up to last year's show at Roseland), I was reluctant to go to this show since it's in such a large and frankly not very rock and roll type venue, but this is the only show that Franz Ferdinand is playing here since there were no small club shows announced or anything like that, so I decided to bite the bullet and buy a ticket for me and my friend Sara since I really wanted to see them again (it had been a year since I'd last seen them, after all) and since it would be my 1st chance to hear them perform songs on their quite good just released (and funnily-titled) 2nd album You Could Have It So Much Better with Franz Ferdinand. When we got to our seats, TV on the Radio were already playing. They were quite good (and the sound was very good, too) and much better than they were last month in Philadelphia, but it was still unfortunate to see them play to a crowd that, for the most part, didn't know or care about who they are and what they do. Well all I can say is fuck the MTV-watching sheep who'll only listen to what's spoonfed to them instead of seeking things out on their own. It's one of the reasons why I hate seeing shows in such large venues (though for a large venue, the Theater at MSG is quite nice). Then Franz Ferdinand came on and transported me to another place for an hour and made me forget about all of the doofuses that sat there stone-faced as TV on the Radio played their hearts out. They played pretty much all the songs on their excellent debut save for "Tell Her Tonight" and "Come on Home" as well as most of the offerings on their new one save for "Eleanor Put Your Boots On" (which I really wanted to hear; oh well). I don't know what else to say about them since pretty much everyone knows what they sound like by now except that they were great and that they filled the approximately 6,500 capacity theater with their sound quite nicely. They also had an enormous backdrop that changed from their 1st album logo to the cover of the new album to a shot of all 4 of them. If you have a chance, go see them before they start playing even larger venues!

PREVIOUSLY: My review of TV on the Radio's show with Deerhoof and The Roots in Philly
My list of the Best of 2004 (Franz Ferdinand's debut made #3 on the list)