Franz Ferdinand paid an unconventional tribute to the late Michael Jackson when they headlined the Other Stage at Glastonbury tonight (June 27).
“Shamone motherfuckers!” yelled frontman Alex Kapranos during the set, referring to one of Jackson’s famous vocal eccentricities. He also played a short rendition of the bass-line to Jackson‘s hit ‘Billie Jean’.
The Scottish art-rockers drew a healthy crowd despite going head-to-head with Pyramid Stage headliner Bruce Springsteen on the festival schedule.
“I arrived with my wellingtons and my raincoat,” he told the crowd after playing opener ‘The Dark Of The Matinee’.
“I don’t need them,” he added, referring to the sunny weather that had blessed the Worthy Farm site throughout the day. “That feels pretty special.”
The singer/guitarist got the crowd involved during ‘The Fallen’, yelling, “Come on, make some noise!” The audience responded with a huge cheer as lights were shone on them to light up their celebrations.
Later during ’40 Ft’ the crowd participation stakes were upped, with the crowd singing the “La la la” refrain back to the band. “That sounds wicked!” exclaimed Kapranos.
The foursome ended their set with extended version of ‘Outsiders’, with all of them bashing out percussion around drummer Paul Thomson‘s kit as Kapranos shouted “Shamone motherfuckers!”.
They then left the stage before returning shortly after to kick into an encore, starting with ‘Jacqueline’ and finishing with regular set closer ‘This Fire’.
Franz Ferdinand played:
‘The Dark Of The Matinee’
‘No You Girls’
‘Do You Want To’
‘Turn It On’
‘Michael’
‘Walk Away’
‘Bite Hard’
‘Take Me Out’
‘What She Came For’
‘The Fallen’
’40 Ft’
‘Outsiders’
‘Jacqueline’
‘Ulysses’
‘Lucid Dreams’
‘This Fire’
Watch an interview with Franz Ferdinand at Glastonbury 2009:
Plus – watch a video interview with Franz Ferdinand‘s Alex Kapranox and Paul Thomson at Glastonbury 2009, courtesy of the BBC:
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