This show made me feel so incredibly old. Throngs of young, vibrant, well-dressed preppy kids (some of them not a day over 18 years, I swear) yahooing and carrying on with their groups of like-minded friends, drinking to excess and dancing to anything being played on stage. And to think I was like that at that age… well, maybe slightly less annoying. I can see I’m going to turn into one of those “kids these days” seniors. With all the fringes and bobs gathered in a mass mostly right in front of stage, all the girls set about screaming at exponentially increasing decibel levels as each of their new little friends arrived while the boys high-fived the new arrivals in jovial spirit. And as for the dancing, well, the girls utilised the whole run-your-hands-through-your-hair-with-an-upward-stroke dance move while the males pumped their fists to (and drunkenly against) the beat with reckless abandon. I’d say there were a lot of Double Blacks sold over the bar throughout the night. And also whatever the guys drink these days. Which is basically any sort of beverage with alcohol in it, right?

As the only support act for the night’s show, Brisbane four-piece The Gallant were left with no choice but to do everything they could to try to get the few patrons that had gathered inside The Zoo moving on an unseasonably cold Wednesday night. Throughout the set lead vocalist/guitarist James See tried to get the crowd to clap along, “bounce” and basically flail as wildly as possible. I admire the spirit of the lad, but the support act for The Faint should be much more subdued in banter and focused more on letting their music doing the talking. I mean, c’mon, it’s The Faint we’re dealing with here – you have to be dark, mysterious and broody, not peppy, obvious and brash. But as I said, I admired the determination of the group despite a consistent lack of crowd response to the band’s requests. Despite this, there was a still a somewhat electric atmosphere brewing throughout The Gallant’s set as the venue began to resemble its sold-out status with every passing minute. A slight delay at the beginning of the night meant that the openers had just under half an hour to impress as many as possible and establish the mood for the headlining act, and for the most part the locals succeeded to set the tone of the night. Racing through a short set, The Gallant performed as riotous as possible, with both Nightmares and set closer The Latest Craze garnering the most excitement both on- and off-stage to finish a relatively solid set.

The excitement was palpable during the break in sets – The Faint were almost on stage in Brisbane once again after a three-year absence from our shores. With the recent release of their fifth album Fasciination, the Nebraskan headliners had a sizeable catalogue of songs to choose from, however their tour here in 2005 would surely mean that the electro-punks would dedicate the majority of the set to the new album, right? After some initial hesitation about Fasciination, in retrospect it actually is a notable release from the five-piece, so the focus on album number five was by no means a bad thing. However, as always I was of course proved wrong. Instead of a majority of new tracks, the group pumped out a raving mix of songs from their past four albums (never expect any track from Media to be played… ever…), much to the delight of a completely packed audience. Opening with the fuzzily dark Agenda Suicide, The Faint made full use of their visual set-up throughout their set, projecting at times minimalist, grainy visuals, and at others cartoon-esque footage behind them, in combination with epilepsy-inducing strobes pulsating from above. Wet From Birth favourite Drop Kick The Punks followed, and it proved as debauched as expected, and we were well underway in the punky dance party being thrown by these Omaha lads.

Over the course of the set, pumped-up (physically/mentally/whatever) men and loose (physically/mentally/whatever) women thrashed around in a frenzy of lights, colours, sounds and substances which would have given even Madchester a run for its money. Take Me To The Hospital, Posed To Death and Desperate Guys proved old hits with the bustling crowd, while new tracks Forever Growing Centipedes, Psycho and Get Seduced continued to work the crowd into a mini-maelstrom of muscles, hair and alcohol. Personal favourite Worked Up So Sexual seemed slightly lacklustre compared to last time, but it was still fun as hell, as was Paranoiattack and set closer I Disappear. It was at this time the band departed stage for the usual pre-encore disappearance, but before long and after much crowd commotion, the band re-emerged for a rousing three-song burst which saw The Geeks Were Right sit nicely in the middle before the utterly jiveable strains of Glass Danse signalled the end of the night and stirred the punters into one last torrent of enthusiastic grooving. The whole nu-rave trend has really helped The Faint explode as of late, and the band certainly didn’t let the oh-so-hip crowd down one bit. And even when the current “electro” trend dies out, you can be sure The Faint will still be there rocking the party as always – let’s just hope that party comes back to town again sometime soon.