Franz Ferdinand singer pays tribute to Sunderland music scene

Sunderland Echo

Alex Kapranos, lead singer of Franz Ferdinand, has paid tribute to Sunderland’s rapidly evolving music scene following a sold-out homecoming performance. In a video interview, Alex reflected on the evening and his connection to the city. The gig was part of the Sunderland Year of Music 2025/2026 and saw fans travelling from across the UK and even the continent to witness Franz Ferdinand’s electric set.

Transcript

00:00Here I am sitting backstage in the fire station in Sunderland, which I just found out used to be

00:07the car park of the Sunderland Empire. First time I went to the Sunderland Empire was in 1977

00:16to see Basil Brush in the panda mime. So it's funny to be back. It's good to be back because

00:24this is my roots. There are a lot of my family here tonight. I used to live in Roca, which is about

00:30what, half an hour, 40 minutes walk from here, just over the bridge. And of course, because I've got

00:35relations here, I've been coming back to the North East and popping into Sunderland over the years.

00:40And I see the changes in the city today when Frankie drove me in in the car. It was quite remarkable

00:46seeing how it's changed and everything that's going up and just the life about the place. It was quite

00:53contrast to the last time I played here in Sunderland. The last time I played here in Sunderland was

00:5911 years ago in 2014. That's when pop wrecks had just opened up. It was just beginning to take off

01:07the ground and there was a real air of optimism about it. All that coming from Dave as well, you know,

01:16good life energy, good musicians, good people. I've done a lot of good people from Sunderland over the

01:22years and the music scene. When I was on stage tonight, I mentioned the Future Heads. We two

01:26and it's them. I love that band. I think of all of our contemporaries, they're the ones that I

01:32probably had most time for and most respect for. I loved what they were doing. I love the guys from

01:37Field Music and all that sort of scene as well. Brilliant stuff and like going back to Leatherface and

01:42all that stuff, you know. Yeah, it's a very, very powerful scene. And what a great venue the fire station is,

01:50you know, when I was on the phone to Frankie and he was explaining everything about the year of music

01:56and the Music City, telling about the venue. I thought that sounds like a cool place, but it's a

02:02it's a really special place. The atmosphere is very good and the sound is remarkable. You know,

02:08like it's whoever built it deserves a hearty round of applause. It sounds very good. A hearty,

02:15acoustically treated round of applause. The crowd were great tonight. Yeah,

02:22I just had a bloody good time. I loved it. I'm very, very happy to be back home and

02:29uh, very happy to be with all these good people playing them some tunes.

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