Franz Ferdinand live at the Glasgow Grand Old Opry

I love the Grand Old Opry in Glasgow. It is an amazing concert venue. It's a country and western club in Govan on the south side of the Clyde. The last time I was there was to see Teenage Fanclub in 1998. It hasn't changed. The sound is good, the hall is intimate, the drink is cheap. There is no actual sawdust on the floor but I kinda want to pretend that there is.

I found out about this secret Franz Ferdinand gig when I was messing about on the internet. They are playing two shows in Glasgow to try out some of their new songs. The tickets were cheap and sold out in a flash. It was a good chance to play Glasgow indie bingo. I spotted the ubiquitous Stuart Murdoch of Belle and Sebastian as well as various members of Eska. There was also a high proportion of posers in the crowd. The guest list was pretty long.

The last time I saw Franz was at their SECC show a couple of years back. They were ok but not great. The SECC is a 'limited' venue and I think tour fatigue was kicking in for them.

Tonight they were on top form. They opened with a kick ass version of 'michael' follow by 'come on home' and a heavy version of 'shopping for blood'. I nearly shot my load. (I love shopping for blood cos it's about yuppies in the merchant city of Glasgow. I hate yuppies even though I am doomed to become one)

They played some new songs that whilst embrionic show promise. I think they have been listening to krautrock and they were certainly hitting out with some chilly keyboard sounds. The best of the bunch were 'new kind of kick' and 'turn me on' which had some heavy moog keyboard bass that makes me want to waste money on useless musical instruments.

We got a few more hits including 'walk away', 'the fallen', '40 feet' and a countrified version of 'matinee' (possibly a tribute to the venue).

My pal tried to tape 'take me out' on his phone but was stopped by an over-zealous security woman. Total joykiller! Anyhow I think the gig was filmed properly so I hope to see it again some time. My mate did consider trying to film the rest of the show through the fly of his jeans but the prospect of 20 minutes of murky footage of his cock soundtracked by Franz Ferdinand was just too disturbing.

A great night.