Flashback: The Faint at First Avenue, Minneapolis (14 Nov 2008)

This was the first time I saw The Faint, at First Avenue in Minneapolis on November 14, 2008. The group was closing out their North American tour for their fifth album, Fasciinatiion, and was about to head over the UK. I was already a big fan of their album Danse Macabre, so I was very much looking forward to seeing the group. Unfortunately, since the tour was for the new album, the band played a lot of new songs… not all of them were bad, but just that fans weren’t used to the new stuff.



Since then, I’ve seen the band numerous times, and they really put on a fun show. It’s all about creating a sort of dance light show, and Todd Fink usually is amazing to watch.



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Minneapolis is the last stop for famed The Faint
before heading off to Scotland, England, Germany, Italy, and Spain,
before heading back stateside in mid-December. UK concert goers should
be in for a real treat, as these guys put on a spectacular light show
consisting of part rave, part Casio-crashing, part discotheque, but all
fun.

Everyone in the band was dressed in dark clothing, except for
singer Todd Fink, who came out with tinted circular glasses/goggles and
dressed up as a mad scientist or chemist. He does his same dance he
does for all the songs, smiling and laughing the whole time, while the
rest of the band do their thing. I will have to say that “Dapose”
rocked out pretty hardcore on the guitar.

There was a long experimental noise intro before “The Geeks
Were Right”, which was well-received, although I suspect fans weren’t
used to their new songs.

Speaking of which, and I won’t spend too much
time on this, the audience seem to be a lot of younger kids (with black
marked “X” on their hands indicating they are under 21), and they all
seem to be really into their hair.

Setlist

The ended their set with a three song encore, including the very last song, Agenda Suicide, which is not listed on their set list.

I should also mention the two warm-up band, His Mischief and Baby Walrus.
His Mischief was a three piece band from St Paul, they sounded more
power-pop/rock – like they might be more in their elements opening up
for Motion City Soundtrack.

As for Baby Walrus, they are from Nebraska, and they seem to be more
blues-influenced, with a bit of Ben Folds with the keyboard-thing. I
don’t know the song they ended their set, but it was really good.