The thrashing guitars of Young and Restless bounced around the room frightening sensitive ears providing an interesting choice of opener for The Faint’s more electronic-driven beats. After a short wait, Todd Fink and the rest of the Fsint crew came bounding on stage to the opening sounds of Agenda Suicide. Computer bleeps and squelching bass gave way to guitars and drums, and suddenly the opening act didn’t seem that far removed after all. Next up was Drop Kick the Punks off their last album Wet From Birth. This is reminiscent of their early days as unconventional punk-rockers but still brings together their fusion of rock and electronic beats. Fink jumped around on stage in his white lab coat/kimono-style outfit, while ambiguous blue and black shapes formed behind him on the screens.

It was great to hear their most popular B-side Take Me To The Hospital, with Fink showing off his spelling-bee skills. The kids seemed into it, but overall the crowd was pretty flat. A girl next to me yelled out – œWhat’s with the crowd? Why isn’t anyone dacing?’ and I couldn’t agree more. It was hard to tell whether the crowd were more into the back catalogue or the newest album Fasciinatiion. They all just seemed to stand around, with a few singing to the words while standing still. It’s possible that the energy just wasn’t there for this gig. But it was hard to tell if it was due to lack of translation from the band to the crowd or the other way around. After the last show at the same venue a few years ago, this one was slightly less intense.

The first song they played off their newest release was Forever Growing Centipedes which was as much fun as some of their best of the last couple of albums. But after this the band fell flat for a few with their songs Psycho and a little known track off their early release Blank Wave Arcade. Posed To Death was a personal favourite with the heavy breaths at the start, bringing back the 80s vibe through the tinny sounds before getting blasted with the full range these guys can pull off. They also played some favourites off Wet From Birth such as Jealous Guys and I Disappear. They also tried to get the crowd going with tracks off their album Danse Macabre such as Conductor but it seemed the crowd were busy trying to remain cool and collected.

Where the electronic mastery really seemed to shine was on their live version of the opener from their new album, Get Seduced. Even the cool kids couldn’t help but move to the sounds created up on stage from Fink and the guys. After playing around sixteen tunes the guys wandered off stage, and even though the crowd didn’t seem too concerned earlier everyone was yelling for more. After a very short coaxing the guys returned for a three-song encore with Birth, their last single The Geeks Were Right and possibly the most popular and best song of the night Glass Danse. After getting down to the final song everyone left feeling satisfied. It was not The Faint’s best live show, but it was still a pleasure to see these guys having fun.

CHECK OUT THE PIX FROM THE GIG HERE