Twenty-some-odd years ago, toward the end of George W. Bush’s first presidential term, angular Scottish post-punk revivalists Franz Ferdinand were actual pop stars. They had saturation-play radio and MTV (in the last days that MTV still played music) hits with clangy-guitared singles like “Take Me Out,” coming on like Gang of Four if those po-faced Marxists had serious pop smarts. Now they're back with the Greater Glasgow Cultural Exchange Tour, touting 2025’s The Human Fear, which shockingly topped the charts. Sunday Mourners open. Have they still got it? Come find out. – Tim Stegall
