The coolest gang in town

Franz Ferdinand have always believed in the importance of the whole package, from their exquisitely coloured album sleeves to the just-so side parting of singer and chief fop Alex Kapranos.

That their songs are so great has sometimes seemed like a lucky bonus. Even the fact that this week they play four nights at stylish but inaccessible Alexandra Palace, when they could have done two at bigger and bleaker Wembley Arena, was an attempt to give the fans something else that would stick in the mind.

"We're a band called Franz Ferdinand from Glasgow and yes we do," was the frontman's unnecessary introduction to the thunderous romp of Do You Want To, at which point a black curtain fell to reveal a redframed screen and four rotating banners displaying arty individual band portraits.

Peacock-perfect in smart boots and tight everything, Kapranos was even more gaunt than usual in black and white, his cheeks and eye sockets nothing more than black voids.

The rest of the band, including a mysterious occasional fifth member, also looked the part, increasing the impression that this is a vastly cool gang you would be deeply lucky to join.

They climbed the drum riser together during Darts of Pleasure, walked forwards in synchronisation at the climactic gear change of Take Me Out. The others even seemed not to mind when Kapranos indulged himself with an acoustic Eleanor Put Your Boots On, a love song to his girlfriend.

You Could Have It So Much Better made the top 10 in two music magazines' album-of-the-year lists this week, suggesting that difficult second album syndrome was about as problematic to the recording process as smallpox. New songs such as the riotous, powerful This Boy and the disco groove of Outsiders sounded supremely confident live, while being no great progression from earlier hits such as Michael and This Fire.

Take Me Out still sounds like their classic, so it was brave of them to throw it out halfway through, although like all they do, it was surely a carefully considered move.

Kapranos's introductions often sounded pre-planned, his spotlit preen atop the bass drum during Evil And A Heathen was perfectly timed, and if there was a problem here, it was the coldness that comes from an absence of spontaneity.

Still, the sweat was real, and the genuine passion of the fans was plain to see. Franz Ferdinand's careful plan for world domination is so perfect that it cannot falter now.

Franz Ferdinand