it's always better on holiday

"this song begins like 1, 2, 3."

there's three things: 1. the snap of a freshness seal 2. perfectly pressed pants 3. an extra shot of espresso. franz ferdinand's concert wednesday night in san francisco aside, these are the 3 crispest, cleanest, poppiest things i can think of. but the show topped them all.

lots of high energy bands shine when it comes to live performances and exceed the expectations of the crowd when they hit the high notes, finish in unison, and stay together. especially after 4 rounds of beer, an album's worth of performance time, and an encore. but franz raised the bar--and proceeded to dance on top of it.

while anyone can appreciate the enthusiastic hi-hats in the privacy of her apartment, the upbeats at the concert transformed the audience of hipsters, fogies and teenagers into a united front of fans who couldn't help but make idiots of themselves bobbing up and down for a solid hour and a half. it was that kind of concert.

the demeanor of the band had a lot to do with it--cunning and boyish, the members of franz ferdinand rocked with a confidence that all but forced the audience to steam forward. the driving punches are locomotive drummer pat thomson and sharp bassist bob hardy--and just when the words "Strokes from Scottl--" leave your lips, frontmen alex kapranos and nick mccarthy give you cause to think again.

in a striking combination of charm and urgency, the perfect harmonies are presented with a precision that causes your ears to ring. but what makes this band exciting are not just the grins and choreographed moves that make for a visually fun event; the four dexterously maneuver between high energy cheers and upbeat agony faster than they can sing "dark of the matinee."

it's no wonder that the angularity of the music lends itself to snappy handclaps and even snappier clothing: this band isn't too cool (ahem, casablancas) for fab four allusions and choreographed back-to-back whaling. the real surprise comes at the end of the night when the audience realizes that the last 5 minutes has rather been over an hour and it's time to go home. after an electric encore, the crowd exits the site with a final image in mind that would have made the talking heads proud: "this fire is out of control, we're gonna burn this city, burn this city."

so is it the driving bassline? the stylized, ambitious flare? the quirky mod dress? whatever the reasons, franz ferdinand had the confidence to write that they "know that you will surrender" long before they took to the stage in san francsico. but these glaswegians might have been onto something.