Jul 29, 2010

Live: The Faint At Metro,Chicago

SIS EXCLUSIVE! posted by Katie McMillan at 1:00 pm

All photos by Doug Williams/Enlyte Photography

This past weekend I was an irresponsible writer. While under most circumstances , I take some small delight in being the nerd at the show taking notes in the corner, this proved to be quite an impossible task at the Metro on Friday. Partially because I was quite drunk, but mostly, I’ll give credit where credit is due; the energy of
The Faint brought to the stage and the enthusiasm of the crowd was an infectious combination that I don’t think kept anyone idle during the show. In the nearly tropical atmosphere of Chicago’s brief monsoon season, the venue turned into The Faint’s own dance-punk party on Mars and no rise in temperature or humidity percentage seemed stop them, or the audience, from having a raucous good time.

It’s hard to believe that at the beginning of their career, The Faint (then known as Norman Bailer) were once peopled with the likes of Conor Oberst and signed to his predominantly indie folk label, Saddle Creek Records. Though they hail from Saddle Creek hometown Omaha, Nebraska, their sound has always been far more heavy and electronic than the signature softer country twang of other prominent members of the “Omaha sound”. Thus, their break from the label with the release of their latest album, 2008’s Fasciinatiion under their own imprint blank.wav came as no surprise. However, much has been quiet on The Faint front since they wrapped up a tour with Ladytron in mid-2009, seeing three of the members (Clarke Baechle, Todd Fink and Jacob Thiele) embark as DJs under the moniker Depressed Buttons, playing in clubs and smaller venues. The band’s announcement of a short, five day tour of the Midwest seemed just a fan indulgence and their Chicago show certainly seemed to prove as much.

This was my first time seeing The Faint live, so I had no basis with which to compare this show and their performances in support of specific albums. While most bands tend to shy away from playing earlier material, their setlist for the night spanned the length of their discography, featuring tracks from as far back as “Worked Up So Sexual” off their 1999 album, Blank-Wave Arcade to obscurer singles like “Take Me To the Hospital”, released only on a 2002 Saddle Creek compilation. They touched on each subsequent album, playing several songs from Danse Macabre, Wet From Birth and Fasciinatiion.

Bopping around onstage with their extraterrestrial pals (approximately fifteen lifesize alien mannequins) and the dance party requisite light show, The Faint had their audience moving with no respite for the entirety of their short, hour-long set. In between song chatter was kept to a minimum (though Todd Fink did take the time to dedicate their set to the recently incarcerated Lindsay Lohan), but the band seemed to be enjoying themselves. This was not a show for promotional purposes only—this was for their fiercely loyal fans, who sang along to every word and gnashed their teeth menacingly at the mere suggestion that anyone would try to sneak past them for a closer look (not that I tried, of course…ahem). The show was a thoroughly enjoyable and certainly impressive tribute to their career thus far, and a hell of a party to boot.

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