Live Report: Franz Ferdinand bring showmanship and technical excellence to the National Stadium

The show starts with a blackout. Then the lights on stage go red, and the band comes out on stage. Guitarist Dino Bardot plays one long, sustained note on the guitar and they all strike a pose, holding it, as the note rings out. Only the drummer moves, playing a building run as the rest of the band poses motionless. Then they all jump - literally - into ‘The Dark of the Matinée’.

Immediately, their execution is rock solid. They move across genre with ease. There’s the great punk-y rock with slamming guitar chords that characterised their early work. There’s also the more experimental work that has characterised their recent work: mellower songs with mandolin solos, dance music with rising, tension-building effects and finally a floor-shaking beat drop. Across it all, though, they are completely comfortable, and technically precise.

Drummer Audrey Tait especially is steady and consistent throughout, from the great, stomping kick of ‘Hooked’ to the intoxicating, pounding drive of ‘Michael’. Whenever the audience’s clapping starts to rush ahead of the beat, she is the band’s anchor, keeping them all together through the whole show.

Franz Ferdinand at The National Stadium on February 22nd, 2026. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

Throughout the night, the band are actively engaging the audience. From the get-go, frontman Alex Kapranos in particular is pointing out to individual audience members during songs and grinning at them, leading the audience through clapping and swaying along with some songs, leading call-and-response on others. Once, he even plays the audience like an instrument, conducting their cheers by raising and lowering his arms. The audience is more than happy to be engaged, and join in enthusiastically. Their energy only grows as the night goes on.

And as the audience’s energy grows, so too does the band’s. As the night goes on, they seem to get more and more into it. At one point, the whole band starts jumping up and down, and the audience follows suit, and you can feel the whole building shaking. At another point, all three guitarists line up onstage to trade off solos, holding the guitars up above their heads as they play as if it were the rock equivalent of a twenty one gun salute; at the end of this, Kapranos is apparently so overwhelmed by the music that he falls to his knees, and then collapses to the floor, to the delight of the audience. At another point, the whole band put down their instruments and take up drum sticks, circling around the drum set to pound on the cymbals as the drummer delivers a thrilling, racing solo.

Franz Ferdinand at The National Stadium on February 22nd, 2026. Copyright Abigail Ring/ hotpress.com

The audience and band build off one another right up to the final song, ‘This Fire’. By this point, the energy in the room is palpable. The whole crowd is on its feet, clapping and jumping and singing along to every word of every song.

“Dublin, I want to hear that Dublin noise!” Kapranos shouts. The audience obliges.

“Make that noise for the woman who plays the drums tonight, Audrey Tait!” The crowd’s cheers redouble. As he says her name, Tait starts in with a low, steady drum beat. Kapranos goes through and names each member of the band, imploring the audience to make that Dublin noise for each of them in turn, and as each is named, they come in on their instruments, building the song up piece by piece. In comes the keyboard. Bass. Guitar. Finally, Kapranos introduces himself, and they start in with the song. As they go, they continue to build, getting louder and more and more involved. At a certain point, the guitar and vocals cut out and Kapranos tells the audience to take it down to the ground, and the whole crowd crouches to the floor. Then, at a signal from the guitarists, they get back up, jumping and cheering.

At a certain point, Kapranos unplugs his guitar and makes his way into the crowd. Fans gasp and cheer and take selfies as he crosses the whole room. Then he gets back on stage, and they finish out the song, raging and burning along, the whole crowd shouting the lyrics with them.

“This fire is out of control! I’m gonna burn this city!”

At the end of the song, Kapranos declares to the crowd that they are “f***ing magic!” The band comes to the front of the stage, links hands and bows. They wave once, and walk offstage, to the cheers of a completely captivated audience.