The Faint - Live in Los Angeles

Few things can inspire insipid, shoe shuffling emo kids to remember there's a reason to live, to get off your asses and dance, the way the Faint can. Their shows are destined to become legendary; that rare combination of energy, skill, charisma and great music that makes a concert larger than the sum of its parts.

It's taken the band three long years to come full circle from Wet From Birth. There have been huge changes in the world of the Faint (One friend of mine was sure they'd broken up. I'd love to know where that rumor started.) and I was scared that maybe some of the magic from their previous shows would be lost.

I took my girlfriend with me, who was a fan but had not seen them live. I'd almost over-hyped them to her, and as we got through the doors of the Henry Fonda theater, I got this horrible idea in my head that they'd suck and she'd blame me somehow.

It was a sold out show (both Thursday and Friday sold out) and after an eclectic if ultimately boring set from Jaguar Love, Shy Child came on. I realize a lot of people really like Shy Child, but I just can't get into them. They remind me of a new wave version of Rage Against the Machine. That previous sentence should never have to be written.

All thoughts of a let down show were quickly wiped away. The Faint came blasting onto the stage and let it rip with "Agenda Suicide", Take Me To the Hospital" and "Dropkick the Punks". All of the pictures on this post, I shot during those tracks.

After that, they brought (in no order)"Worked Up So Sexual", "Your Retro Career Melted", "The Conductor", "Desperate Guys", "Birth", "I Disappear", and from the new album Fasciinatiion, "Get Seduced", "Machine in the Ghost", "Forever Growing Centipedes", and "Mirror Error".

They came back for an encore to a shouting and stomping crowd that was shaking the building, and did "Glass Danse", "Paranoia Attack", and "the Geeks Were Right".

Of course, just listing the tracks doesn't do justice to a Faint show. The energy there is unbelievable. It's almost surreal. The band gives off this huge aura of power and the crowd seems to suck it all up, amplify it, then spit it back out. Combine that with a fantastic light show and video projection and you get something very rare.

Lead singer, Todd Fink, has taken on a mad scientist persona for this tour, donning a lab coat and goggles. More than ever he captures the kinetic energy of the Faint, focusing his bandmates talents and shooting it out at the audience like some kind mind control beam that has only one setting: "Dance!".

At one point I was on the bouncing, gyrating, undulating dance floor and a girl leapt onto my back, shouted "Oh my god! The Faint!", then proceeded to sing along with me to "Birth". She squeezed my hand momentarily before disappearing into the biomass of the crowd again.

I can't recommend them enough. If you have the power, see the Faint. It'll change your life.

I was lucky enough to score a photo pass for the show, hence the better-than-point-and-shoot pics. I'll be doing an album review later this week separately.