And my friend Aurora finished her blog entry – nay, novel – on our Tempe experience, which is posted on her Myspace blog. So if you want all the nitty gritty details – way more detailed than the one I posted – read it!

This has officially been the best weekend of my life. I flew in from Hawaii to Phoenix to see Franz Ferdinand live—and it has been more than worth it!

Pre-Gig
I flew in early that Friday morning. Later that day, I got to meet fellow Franz fans I’ve gotten to know through the official message board for Muse, my other favorite band. (Franz Ferdinand by far has the longest thread in the “Other Bands” section on the forum.) These friends were all from out of town: San Diego, Los Angeles, and El Paso. Only one of us in the group lives in the area, though she originally hails from the Netherlands. We went out to Mill Avenue Friday evening and had dinner, drinks, and basically amped ourselves up for the concert the following day.

Late Saturday morning, two of my friends and I made our way to the Marquee Theatre. We would’ve left for the venue earlier, but we knew there was a charity run and that routes to the venue were blocked until 10:30 am. When we pulled up to the venue, we spotted their tour bus parked behind the venue and got a bit giddy. We were relieved to find that we were the first ones there. We sat on a curb in the shade to see if anyone from the band would come out. Sure enough, we spotted Bob walking back and forth between the bus and the back of the venue. He eventually saw us and made his way toward us. We bought the band a bottle of tequila the day before, so we presented it to him. He was sincerely thankful for the gift and said Paul would especially be appreciative of it. After talking about Coachella, his new shoes, and some photos, Bob made his way back to the bus.

Me and Bob Hardy, Franz Ferdinand's bassist.

About ten minutes later, while we were preparing to write some messages to the band on our friend’s SUV (the one featured at the beginning of the Phoenix Kyte video), out emerged Alex Kapranos himself. He literally made a beeline towards us. We introduced ourselves and chatted about Paul McCartney and Morrissey, mostly about the strange things Morrissey was saying onstage about burning flesh and how he hoped it was human. We figured Morrissey needed some water and a cookie. Alex suggested he needed a veggie burger.

Alex also told us how Nick injured his foot and that he was in the hospital getting some x-rays done. Our Dutch friend with the SUV told him what we were going to write on it in German— “We came here to see Franz Ferdinand” — and Alex was able to translate it to English, thanks to his being around Nick all the time. He also asked us where we were from and he repeated it back to us: “So you’re from Texas, you’re from Holland, you’re from Hawaii… and I’m from Glasgow!” Very cute.

Alex even helped us take a group photo with him, suggesting we set a camera down on the hood of one of the few cars in the lot. We also took individual photos. When it was my turn, I did something I’ve been dreaming about doing when I ever met Alex—I taught him how to make a shaka sign with his hand. (It’s a Hawaii greeting. Look on YouTube for President Obama’s shaka during his inauguration parade.) We also had him give Bob a toy officer’s badge we bought for him (“Arizona Sheriff Bob”).

Me, Alex, Christina, and Aurora. Photo from Aurora's camera.

Me and Alex Kapranos, Franz Ferdinand vocalist and guitarist.

After he left, we wrote the German message and “Get Well Nick” on our friend’s SUV.

"We came here to see Franz Ferdinand" in German

Our superfantastisch message to Nick.

The rest of our group arrived and we told them about our encounter with Bob and Alex. They were a bit jealous to say the least. We set up our little line party in front of the venue, with bum cushions, picnic food, water and a portable fan. We made a few signs on neon poster board. Three girls one of our friends knew from the franzferdinand.org days arrived a few hours before the doors opened; they just came from driving from Coachella. It turned out one of them was also from Hawaii—30 minutes away from where I live!

Showtime
The gig itself was easily the best I have ever been to. Our group scored barrier positions as we hoped, and were subject to Alex and Nick’s “eye sex.” One notable occurrence was that they played “Darts of Pleasure”—a rare instance in recent Franz gigs—instead of “The Fallen” because my friend held up the sign I wrote requesting it! It was cute how they apologized how they played the song afterward, but I didn’t even notice anything wrong… we were all excited to hear the song live! Nick saw my “Aloha Franzypants” sign and chuckled. He also dedicated “Tell Her Tonight” to our friend with the SUV. I was a bit bummed that they messed up/omitted the electronic outro to “Lucid Dreams” during the encore, but that was minor in relation to everything else that happened that day. I bounced up and down to a few songs, so I was surprised that my legs weren’t hurting after the show.

Alex's eyes boring his way through me.

Nick strikes a pose.

Ethereal Alex Kapranos.

The set list from the gig. Note that "The Fallen" was replaced by "Darts of Pleasure" upon our request!

Most of our group, most of whom I know from the Muse online forum.

Post-Gig
We waited outside near their van in hopes of meeting them (again), especially because most of our group wasn’t there with us that morning. The security guards told us that the band wasn’t coming out, and basically everyone else aside from our group left. The band eventually came out and graciously took photos and signed autographs for us. I got a few pictures with Nick as he told us how he hurt his foot in Seattle.

Photo by Christina.

Photo by Christina.

Photo by Christina.

I suggested they come to Hawaii sometime and Nick said he would love for the band to go there someday. After a while, the guys really had to go. Our group dispersed into smaller groups as we figured out where to go to eat afterward—we settled with Whataburger—and got each other’s contact info. I caught Alex looking at us as we were doing this. I wonder if he was wondering how we all knew each other. Perhaps he was amazed at our dedication and willingness to go through great lengths to see them.

Franz Ferdinand put on an amazing show and were very gracious about meeting with us, their fans, before and after the show. Thanks to them, I have made a bunch of new friends and experienced a weekend I will never forget. Mahalo, Franz Ferdinand!

After receiving a text message from Aurora with their room number, I walked downstairs to hang out in their hotel room, a.k.a. Franz HQ. The first thing I saw was a mass of blankets. I soon realized it was a small portable gazebo covered in sheets—the “fort” Christina and Aurora talked about building in the Franz Ferdinand thread in the Muse boards. Sure enough, as I entered the room and walked around to the right of the fort, I spotted its entrance.

That's "Lucky lucky yeah!" in German

Hanging from the top, inside the tent, was a small disco ball that you could shine a flashlight on. We talked about people potentially being able to see the disco ball-lit gazebo from outside the hotel room. It only meant fun!

When Cris and Lisa and her friends arrived, we hired a cab to take us to the nearby Mill Avenue district. We had a Mexican dinner at Macayo’s, where performers were singing lame acoustic covers. At one point, we launched into singing mode, with Muse and Franz songs, of course. It was pretty obnoxious but way more entertaining than the restaurant’s “entertainment.” Ha.

Afterward, we walked along Mill Avenue. Lisa really wanted to go to Fat Tuesday so we went there. The atmosphere reminded me of Waikiki on a weekend night. Loud music, college-aged kids, a few of them dancing. We found a seating area on the sidewalk and took over a corner area. We proceeded a picture-taking spree—it didn’t matter whether they were good photos, just that they were candid and random. We talked to a couple of guys who were ASU students and told them about our upcoming Franzy adventure. Neither seemed very familiar with Franz Ferdinand, though one of them very obviously pretended that Franz “was his shit.” Uh huh. We suggested they check them out the following evening but of course they made excuses about not knowing what their friends were up to that night. We had Mr. “Franz is My Shit” go check with the DJ if they had any Muse or Franz songs on deck. He came back with a no. Of course. Shortly afterward, we left. Lisa later apologized for bringing us there.

Back at Franz HQ, we hung out and blasted and sang along with—yup, you guessed it—more Muse and Franz songs. We also learned the choreography during the chorus of the “Dark of the Matinée” video, so we could perform it during the concert the following evening.

Saturday, April 18 (late morning/early afternoon): Lucky lucky
After a quick stop to the nearby Safeway for some snacks and ice for our line party cooler, Christina, Aurora and I arrived at the venue at around 11:30 am. We were planning to arrive earlier to ensure we were first in line, but road blocks from a charity run this morning prevented it. It didn’t matter though because we were still the first ones there. And perhaps this arrival time was meant to be because not too long after we got to the venue, we met Bob Hardy (bass) and Alex Kapranos (lead vocals and guitar)!!!!

So here’s how this happened. We noticed the tour bus parked behind the venue, so we nonchalantly sat by a parking lot median, underneath the shade of a small tree. It was the only spot that had decent shade anyway. It was near the buses but not too close that it made us look suspicious.

We waited in the shade for a few minutes and caught a glance of Bob walking from the bus. After a few moments he emerged and stood by the neighboring curb. I waved and he jutted out his chin in casual greeting. Christina said “hi” as Bob walked over. Aurora and Christina had me present the bottle of tequila they had purchased for the guys, since they were afraid they would drop the bottle out of nervousness. He was really appreciative of the gift and said Paul would especially appreciate the gesture. Bob also said they’ll drink it after the gig… not such a good idea to indulge beforehand. Then we talked a little bit about Coachella the day before. Aurora asked if the shoes he was wearing were the new ones he mentioned in the official blog and he said they were indeed. We took photos with Bob, and we both made sure not to trip over the tequila bottle we set down on the asphalt. We thanked Bob for coming to talk to us and he departed with the tequila bottle.

Me and Bob Hardy, Franz Ferdinand's bassist.

A few minutes later, Alex emerged and made a beeline towards us! He asked us if we were the girls who gave them the tequila. We said yes and he thanked us. We were amused that he introduced himself, even though we knew who he was, but appreciated his manners! He talked about Paul McCartney and said something like, “Who isn’t a Beatles fan?” Then he talked about a strange comment that Morrissey made on stage about how he could smell burning flesh (hamburger meat is what Alex thinks Morrissey was talking about) and how he hoped it was human flesh. (Morrissey is vegan.) I commented that it sounded like he needed a cookie and some water, and Alex suggested maybe he needed a veggie burger.

Christina told Alex what she was going to write on the back of her SUV with glass chalk: she said, “We came here to see Franz Ferdinand” in German and Alex was able to translate it to English. A consequence of being around Nick, he said. Speaking of Nick, Alex told us he was getting his x-rays done at a nearby hospital, so he wasn’t at the venue yet.

Afterward Alex asked where we were from. He repeated it back to us: “You’re from Texas, you’re from Holland, you’re from Hawaii, and I’m from Glasgow.” The “I’m from Glasgow” line we found amusing because it was something we already knew, but it’s something Alex likes to say. (We proceeded to use it as a running one-liner joke throughout the rest of the weekend.) He graciously signed some items we had with us: Aurora’s copy of Sound Bites, my Franz Ferdinand CD sleeve, and Christina’s dollar bill. We wanted to take a group photo but we were the only ones in the parking lot. Alex suggested we put one of our cameras on timer mode and place it on one of the few cars in the lot. He genuinely got excited that the idea would work.

Me, Alex, Christina, and Aurora. Photo from Aurora's camera.

We took individual photos with Alex. For my photo, I taught Alex how to do a shaka sign—something I was planning on doing in the event I ever met him! Again, Alex seemed to take genuine interest, as he was learning something new!

Me and Alex Kapranos, Franz Ferdinand vocalist and guitarist.

After our photos, we each hugged Alex and thanked him. He’s tall and I’m quite petite so I had to tiptoe to hug him!

After he returned to the bus, Aurora noted that Alex’s lips were stained purple with wine. Someone’s been drinking wine in the afternoon! (Doo doo doo doo-oooh-oooh!) We also noted that Bob and Alex both complimented Christina’s Bavarian hat.

A little later, we witnessed Alex, Bob and Paul board a white van, presumably to get lunch, visit Nick at the hospital and/or go back to their hotel. On its way out of the parking lot, it passed behind Christina’s SUV, where the girls already wrote their German message. Aurora waved and through the tinted windows, she saw the guys waved back. She was ecstatic.

Part Two coming later

I grabbed my checked bag downstairs and caught a cab. Mo, the driver, was super friendly. He moved from Iraq to Phoenix about 15 years ago. It was cute how curious he was about Hawai‘i. He asked me questions like how long the flight was (six hours), how many people live in Hawai‘i (1.2 million) and if people there still practice the art of traditional tattooing (yes).

I got to the hotel and checked in with the front desk. At first, the woman there looked really tired but after I broke the ice (!!) she opened up. =) She was also curious how long my flight took.

So now I’m here, laying on my stomach, typing out this blog with the TV tuned to ABC. I was hoping to catch Franz Ferdinand’s performance on Jimmy Kimmel even though I know well enough that I missed it. No biggie because I’m seeing them live tomorrow night! This weekend is actually happening, yes!

Time for me to go to bed. I’m gonna explore the neighborhood and meet up with some fellow Musers (Muse forum peeps) tomorrow.