Franz Ferdinand respond to rumours Johnny Marr will join them as Glastonbury special guest
27 June 2025, 14:13 | Updated: 27 June 2025, 14:44
The Scottish indie rockers spoke to Radio X's Sunta Templeton about their set at the festival this year.
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Franz Ferdinand will welcome more than one special guest at their Glastonbury set today (Friday 27th June).
The Scottish indie rockers will play the Other Stage from 5.15pm and it seems they won't be the only ones to grace the stage during the performance.
Quizzed if we can expect them to be joined by any special guests, particularly Johnny Marr who worked with the band on recent single Build It Up, frontman Alex Kapranos and drummer Audrey Tait kept very tight-lipped, but teased one of them might not necessarily who you'd expect."
"There will be some special guests, but I can't tell you who they are. I've got to keep it a surprise. I'm legally bound."
He went on: "I think that when you see who one of them is, you're just gonna go, 'What the- ?!'"
Franz Ferdinand - Build It Up ft. Johnny Marr (Official Audio)
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Speaking about working with The Smiths legend Kapranos gushed: "He's an icon to me personally as well because I learned the guitar trying to play his songs and his riffs and his hooks, you know.
"I love Johnny. He was one of the people who made me want to play guitar in the first place. I first met him years ago when he was playing with friends of mine, The Cribs, and I remember meeting him backstage at the Glasgow Cribs show and he was absolutely lovely. Anybody who's met him knows how down to earth he is and what just a straight up guy he is."
He went on: "So we'd kind of talked about doing something together at different times and then when he came into play on Build It Up, it's just remarkable. You know straight away when you listen to the song that it's him. And that's what I think makes a great artist, you can't disguise their identity."
The band released their seventh studio album, The Human Fear, earlier this year and talking about the positive reaction to it, Kapranos said: "Yeah it's been really good. The response has been lovely."
"It's been great, yeah," agreed Tait. "Really good energy from the crowd and I think a lot of people... it's pleasing when they know all the new songs just as well as the old ones, which has just been amazing to see."
Read more:
- How Johnny Marr and Morrissey wrote the Smiths' debut single Hand In Glove
- Johnny Marr says he turned down "eye-watering" amount for The Smiths reunion
