Franz Ferdinand - Always Ascending Tour, Zepp@BIGBOX, Singapore

While this gig was announced about 6 months ago, I waited until a couple of months before to actually buy the ticket, you know, for financial reasons and once it was pretty much confirmed that they weren't going to play in KL again. Also needed the break away from work. 

Apparently Zepp@BIGBOX popped up in the three years since I was last in Jurong. (Okay, it was 2017, but that's pretty recent). I can't remember what time I got there, but it was probably after 8 p.m.. after having a less than memorable dinner in one of the other adjacent malls.

It's located upstairs. In a big box mall. In the freaking suburbs. That's like going to a concert in like Selayang or something, let alone to see a band like Franz Ferdinand.

The vibe of BIG BOX is like... the Giant standalone mall.

Feels like Giant mall, no? Or perhaps Tesco mall... 

Tee shirts were $50, hoodies were $80. Only got a classic FF logo tee with the Asia tour dates on the back (I didn't know this was their first stop of the Asian leg of the tour).

Because it was cash only, I gave up my last S$50 note (my big note) for it.

There's also a classic FF logo tee with the Asian tour dates on the back,
not pictured here.

Security and bag check was erm, so-so. Stuffed the tee shirt I just bought on top of the contents in my crossbody bag, so they didn't see that I was bringing in my camera and water without me showing them.

You need to rest your feet and gather your strength for the show

The space kinda reminds me of the KL Convention Centre halls - mid sized concert hall. As always with these things, there's always loads of white people in attendance.

They came on about 8.45 p.m. and probably played about an hour 15 minutes. Kapranos is as charming as ever, even from 50 feet away.

There were some songs I could do without, that's just me. I could also do without all the tall people blocking my view. 

Edit this setlist | More Franz Ferdinand setlists

Last I saw them, I was kinda sad they didn't play Darts of Pleasure. This time they did, but they didn't play Bullet. Oh well, can't win them all. But at least I saw them play Bullet at a gig, haha. But I can see why they chose This Fire to close the show - getting the crowd to sing chant "BURN THIS CITY, BURN THIS CITY!" for about a few minutes longer than the actual song is great crowd work (though the Singapore gahmen won't take too kindly to people burn the city). 

As much as I complain about the exchange rate and the free standing concert, it's actually not bad already because there's no opening act (so you're not waiting around longer than you have to), you can see the band clearly and it's not a huge space. 

I'm guessing that they only finished a little after 10 pm was because the rest of the mall was already closed and they wanted everyone to clear out. Which was fine by me, cos I didn't have to rush to catch the train back into town.