Franz Ferdinand, Mono, Glasgow

In the ten years since it opened, Mono Café Bar has become a Glasgow indie institution; a pub, a vegan restaurant and a record shop, it’s the perfect place to drink, listen to tunes, mock the odd hipster and hangout with likeminded people.

Tonight it celebrated its birthday with a tiny capacity show from some old friends of the venue’s owner Craig Tannock. As Alex Kapranos notes later, as boss of the nearby 13th Note and the force behind Mono and sister venue Stereo, Tannock has been responsible for a lot of opportunities for Glasgow bands over the last 21 years. That scene has come full circle and tonight some of them are here to pay him back the favour, in the crowd members of Belle & Sebastian, Sons & Daughters and more local lumiaries are to be found. On stage Muscles of Joy, an all-female psychedelic septet lead the charge with an edgy, percussion heavy jam of off-kilter noise and rhythm, full of jarring vocal disharmonies.

Stalwart of the scene, both past and present, RM Hubbert follows with singing now added to his repertoire of guitar instrumentals and mood pieces. He has added some folk-infused numbers that quieten down the rather boisterous crowd.

Franz Ferdinand last played here at 2006’s Hey You Get Off My Pavement, a festival held in the courtyard outside Mono, where the crowd braved the rain to sing along to a barrage of hits. Tonight, at their first Glasgow show in four years, Franz are older but no less sparky, still all angular moves and scissor kicks. They treat the standing room only Mono to a greatest hits set – ‘Take Me Out’, ‘Tell Her Tonight’, ‘Matinée’, memorable tunes keep on coming for a tight half hour.

‘Do You Want To?’ name-checks the nearby Transmission Gallery and then segues into Dr Feelgood’s ‘Roxette’ – a perfect match for Nick McCarthy’s jerky guitar playing. Paul Thomson hammers the drums through the glam stomp of ‘Ulysses’ and three new songs fit seamlessly in among the older material. An encore of Merchant City anthem ‘Shopping For Blood’ feels just right for Mono, with its place at the heart of that vibrant, regenerated district assured.