September 10, 2003

This was my third time seeing Patrick Wolf (I think he's only played live about ten times total), and it was head and shoulders above the other two (also very good) performances. He had an additional violinist this time (from a real orchestra, and everything!), which helped considering there were technical problems from the start, meaning the acoustic numbers were all played at the beginning of the set, with the electronic stuff later. I think the rearrangement of the setlist really helped, as I got frustrated the other times hearing "Bloodbeat" too early when we were all just warming up! We were also graced with a new song, "Beastiality", which sounded as good as anything off his Lycanthropy album, and indeed about the animal in him and not, er, him in an animal as you'd think from the title! Overall, though, this was an outstanding, magical performance, and Patrick has really gained a mountain's worth of confidence in a short amount of time.

This was my second time seeing Franz Ferdinand, which is also impressive, since they've only released one single so far, and even more impressive that they sold out the ICA on the strength of that one single. They continue to amaze me with their rock/dance/art/Radio 4/Interpol material, and I love that people are finally making guitar music that is acceptable to dance too, nevermind the beard-stroking set! The 50s holiday-maker backdrops were incredible, as wll, if a bit too good - I found myself mesmerised by a synchronised piano act on the screen and have no recollection of the song played at the same time! They saved "Darts Of Pleasure" until the end, but coupled against the rest of the material, it didn't feel like the big single at all, but more a part of their plan all along.