Franz play a surprise Glasto gig

By Frances Cronin
Newsbeat's showbiz reporter

There were rumours buzzing around all day Friday that there could be a surprise appearance from Franz Ferdinand at Glastonbury.

The band were so worried no one would turn up they handed out their own flyers

By ten o'clock at the Park Stage clearly a lot of people had heard those rumours. It was heaving and Franz didn't disappoint.

The band last played the festival in 2004.

They've been away recording their third studio album since 2007.

Now, Franz are taking a break from recording for a mini tour of intimate gigs and some European festivals.

A surprise gig like this is often a chance for a band to try out some new material.

But they were straight in with their classics, kicking off with Matinee. They had everyone leaping around to Take Me Out and Michael.

As you would expect with Franz Ferdinand, the band were smartly dressed.

Frontman Alex Kapranos wore a black leather jacket which he had to take off in the mild evening, the others were in suit jackets.

Alex admitted he was worried people wouldn't have heard they were playing and no one would come. So, the band had taken to handing out flyers earlier in the day themselves.

He dedicated one song to a girl he'd given a flyer to who hadn't believed he was in the band.

She said to him: “If you're really in Franz Ferdinand which part of Sheffield are you from?”

Crowd reaction

Alex informed her they were, of course, from Glasgow.

As for the new songs, they were Kathryn Kiss Me, Ulysses, What She Came For and Turn it On.

They went down a storm, standing up to their other classics. While Take Me Out and Michael made the crowd jump up and down, the new ones made everyone dance.

They played nine tracks in total, finishing with This Fire which got a massive reaction from the crowd.

Franz Ferdinand plan to release their third album in 2009.