Franz Ferdinand, Dalston Victoria, London

If you happened to be hanging out in East London last Friday night you might have confused the 150+ people queuing outside The Victoria with a hipster mob waiting to get inside the next trendy pub, but this is no average maxi-skirt-dip-dye-quiff gathering; it’s a (sort of) secret gig that Franz Ferdinand put together to test drive brand new songs before the release of their fourth album this August.

Approximately three hours after we ignored the one-time advice of Johnny Borrell and arrived at Dalston (a wait pleasantly enlivened by support band Telegram), Franz open ferociously with one of their new singles ‘Right Action’, an immaculate sum of all things Franz captured in a summer-friendly tune. The excitement in the crowd quickly turns into steam and the smooth dance moves fired from the stage flip the place upside down like a pancake.

A chain of new tracks structure the evening, some sexy and bouncy (‘Goodbye Lovers & Friends’, ‘Stand On The Horizon’) and some with the usual Franz guitar frenzy (‘Treason! Animals’, ‘Bullet’) breaking the attention span into pieces every time they drop one of the hits making people hang from the speakers and climb on top of each other.

Towards the end of the show everyone’s clothes and skin are melting and fans are heard screaming things in (at least) four languages, to which Kapranos with pure British etiquette replies: ‘Oh so you say you wanna hear ‘Michael’? We have it written down with three question marks, but if you wanna hear it… Here it is!’ Coming full circle, the set closer is ‘Love Illumination’ (appearing on the setlist as ‘Blackpool’), the second half of that brand new double A-side. It’s a choice which contains the perfect dose of both melancholy and thrill to end the evening on a high.