You Couldn't Have It Any Better

There aren't many bands that I would drive two hours to see, especially on a work night. In 2002, I drove to Portland from Eugene to see Paul McCartney on his solo US tour, but he's a legend. He was worth the trip.

So is Franz Ferdinand. The band, not the dead archduke.

The Scottish (what else?) band's concert Wednesday night at the Ogden Theatre in Denver was the best concert I've been to. Better than Sir Elton who I just saw a few weeks ago. Better than the Smashing Pumpkins jamming at the Richmond Coliseum. Better than front row center at the Counting Crows at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. Franz Ferdinand just rocked, and they looked good doing it.

I don't know exactly why I enjoyed the concert so much. Maybe it's because I like all the songs of the band's three albums, so there was no chance of a bad set list. Maybe it's because I had the perfect seat directly in front of the stage, but one level up so as to be above the bulk of the crowd instead of surrounded by it. Maybe it's just because the band seemed like they were having fun, so I had fun, too.

Lead singer Alex Kapranos danced and jumped around in shiny red shoes while I tapped my dark green Doc Martens, my concert footwear of choice. Steel toes don't matter if they're stepped on. And my Docs look cool.

The evening started off on the right note when I got off work early enough to head to Denver to grab some dinner at a hip brewpub and still get to the theatre in time to snag prime seats. The opening band were the entertaining Canadian goofballs "Born Ruffians". Though I'd never heard of them, they were a fun start to the night. The lead singer moved like Buddy Holly, and the bassist was dressed like a lumberjack, but I particularly enjoyed watching the drummer Ahmed Gallab. He had great stage presence as he twirled his sticks.

Turns out the drummer was a new addition to the band, who had just joined for the tour. Good timing!

But the Canadians were no match for Franz Ferdinand. They kept the crowd going with upbeat songs and matching background lights on their slick stage set. They chose the perfect starting song, "Jacqueline", with the lyrics I particularly agree with: "It's always better on holiday, that's why we only work when we need the money." From there, they moved on to fun songs from their new album--"Bite Hard" was particularly good live--as well as my favorite song from their first album "The Dark of the Matinee." They played a good mix from all the albums and changed up some of the songs just enough to keep it interesting. "40 feet", a short song from their first album, became an Event.

They even played the version of "Lucid Dreams" with my name in it. I gave them a shout when they mentioned me.

At one point all the band members played on the drum set together. It both looked and sounded really cool... and then they threw out the drumsticks to the audience, which was a fun ending.

I tried to find good concert footage of Franz Ferdinand on YouTube to link to this blog, but most of the video and sound quality on there is really poor. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it that these guys put on a great show and are a blast to listen to.

You Tube did have some spliced together footage of "Doctor Who" set to Franz Ferdinand songs, such as "I'm Your Villain" showing images of ultra-bad guy The Master and "This Fire" with clips from the episode set around the explosive eruption of Pompeii. I'm enough of a geek to find this amusing, especially since David Tennant (the current Doctor) is an attractive Scotsman as well.

The concert left me still in a good mood the next morning. I walked to work, cranked up Franz Ferdinand on my I-pod and sang along with a smile.

Elton John, the Laramigo

Last night, in the midst of an April snow shower, Elton John played an almost three hour concert in the basketball arena at the University of Wyoming. I went, because how could I pass up the chance to see someone so famous and entertaining in a venue that I could walk to? Laramie hardly packs in the stars. And a Commander of the Order of the British Empire, too--you know how I like those Brits. The ticket fees all went to charity, so that was even better.

While Sir Elton's voice was clearly showing the strain of his years, his piano playing was beautiful. He played without a band, with only his piano and some synthesizer back-up. He showcased some pretty instrumental bits and vamped up the playing quite impressively on some of his famous songs, which made up for the screechy aspect of his voice when he tried to hit the high notes. "Get Back Honky Cat" was a bit painful, but he could still carry the deeper, calmer tunes like "Sorry Seems to be the Hardest Word" and "Candle in the Wind" with no trouble.

When he played "Tiny Dancer," making me cringe a bit as he had trouble hitting some of the notes, all I could think of was Pheobe from "Friends" and her misheard lyrics. It would have been cool if Tony Danza had appeared to dance on the piano or something. I also wanted George Michael to come out to duet on "Don't Let the Sun Go Down on Me," but I guess Laramie was no big draw for a cameo.

I was a bit disappointed that he didn't play "Sacrifice" or "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road". I mean, really, "Philadelphia Freedom"? Anything with Philly in the title should be given a pass immediately. I guess he was pandering to a red state crowd. The glittering pictures and lights on the back of the stage took on a red, white and blue stars and stripes motif.

And that song about Levon with the lyric "Jesus wants to go to Venus"? I never liked that one. Too much of a David Bowie fascination with spacemen. "Rocket Man" is enough of that, and a better song.

He also chose to do a song about Roy Rogers. Well, we are in Wyoming. He made it a point to mention being a childhood fan of Hop-a-long Cassidy, whose saddle happens to reside in the University of Wyoming Art and Heritage Museum (or something). I've seen it. It's terribly exciting. Hop-a-long Cassidy used to order milk at bars, instead of whiskey. That probably still wouldn't go over well at a cowboy bar in Wyoming.

Sir Elton made up for some of these dubious choices by playing my favorite song of his, "I Guess that's Why They Call it the Blues." I can play that on the piano, but, for some reason, his version sounded a lot better. My man suggested that perhaps I am too beholden to the written notes. This is indeed a huge flaw in my playing, but Elton had none of that, which was fun to see.

Sir Elton appeared a bit subdued, in black tails and sunglasses, because the concert was benefiting the Matthew Shepard Foundation after the tenth anniversary of his death. Elton talked of tolerance and his hopes for the Obama administration and got cheers from the University audience (a lot of people who seemed to be up from 'bluer' Colorado--he mentioned Boulder, which is like the Portland or San Francisco of Colorado and got huge applause). Although most people seemed supportive of the cause, when he played a sad song about Matthew's murder and sang the word Wyoming, to indicate "a place where a boy got lynched", a few idiotic people cheered, in a "whoo-hoo, I'm from Wyoming!" kind of way. Some people really are clueless.

It's too bad it took a tragedy to bring such a big star to Laramie, but, regardless of the subtext, Elton was still a showman. The back and one arm of his dark outfit was decorated in stones in a shiny, silver design, and you could see his enjoyment of the crowd's excited reaction when he slowly played the first bars of "Benny and the Jets".

The walk home in the snow was pretty nice, too.