Franz Ferdinand at Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater | August 14, 2026

Five days before they play Stubb’s, Franz Ferdinand will be at Citi Field in Queens opening for My Chemical Romance. That’s the trajectory: arena support one week, 2,500-cap outdoor amphitheater headliner the next. On Friday, August 14, the Glasgow art-punks bring the Greater Glasgow Cultural Exchange Tour to Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater on Red River — the second-to-last date on a nine-city North American run that wraps in Dallas the following night.

About Franz Ferdinand

The occasion is The Human Fear, Franz Ferdinand’s seventh studio album, released in January 2025 and widely called their best work in 15 years. The record returns to the taut, danceable art-punk the band made irresistible in the early 2000s — angular guitar, locked rhythms, Kapranos’s deadpan baritone threading through all of it — while pushing further into synth-pop territory on tracks like “Bar Lonely” and “The Doctor.” The current lineup of Alex Kapranos, Bob Hardy, Julian Corrie, Dino Bardot, and Audrey Tait sounds genuinely cohesive around this material. Tait, who replaced original drummer Paul Thomson, brings a different center of gravity to a band that has always been about the groove underneath the guitar.

The back catalog still holds up under outdoor conditions. “Take Me Out,” “Do You Want To,” “Michael,” “Ulysses” — these songs were built for exactly this kind of show: dense crowds, open air, everyone who knows every word already moving before the chorus hits. Franz Ferdinand earned a Mercury Prize in 2004 and multiple BRIT Awards behind their debut, and two decades of touring haven’t dulled the live show. Kapranos is a reliable frontman in the best sense — present, physical, not relying on production to carry the room.

About the Venue

Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater holds 2,500 and sits at 801 Red River in the Austin touring corridor. It’s a Live Nation house now, and the booking patterns have shifted accordingly, but the sight lines are solid and the outdoor setup suits a guitar-driven band playing to an audience that already knows the songs. For a Franz Ferdinand show in August, arrive early — the amphitheater fills from the back, and the dance-floor energy the band depends on requires proximity.

Tickets

Franz Ferdinand plays Stubb’s Waller Creek Amphitheater on Friday, August 14, 2026, with a 7:00 PM showtime. Tickets are available via Ticketmaster. More information at stubbsaustin.com.