The Faint - In The Venue - July 30 2008

You've read my gushing about The Faint on this blog before and when I found out they were playing here there was no question, I had to see them.

When I arrived at In The Venue (or Club Sound or whatever else they call it) I was greeted with the largest line I've seen there thus far. It wrapped around the side of the club and then folded in on itself back to the front of the club again. I wondered how they could possibly fit that many people inside but they did and then some.

When purchasing my tickets I discovered the name of the opening band, a local group called the Cavedoll. I followed the link to their Myspace page and was pleasantly surprised by their offerings there. A local band that actually fell somewhere in my range of musical taste for once.


I wasn't prepared for what outstanding live performers they would be. You've seen the stereotypical synthpop or electro band that stands there twitching while banging on their keyboards, and you almost feel slightly embarrased for them. Not these guys, they easily outshined the other opening act from New York in my opinion. The lead singer was Gwen Stefani-esque in her cavorting about the stage and kept the crowd's interest and kept me smiling with her antics. The rest of the band were having as great a time and their set was a blast to watch.



The second group, Shy Child, had an interesting sound and I liked a couple of their songs. It was just two guys, a drummer and the vocalist on a keytar. It could've been that they started the show late but their set seemed to drag while I was waiting for the band I paid to see. They may be worth a second listen based on some the of the songs I enjoyed.

Finally The Faint take the stage, the lead singer Todd Fink in a mad scientist getup, and they jump right into Agenda Suicide and the place goes nuts. Apparently they have quite the following here and have played in the past. We Utahns love our synth/electro/pop.


The Faint is definitely not just a studio band, they sounded amazing live and I would've been content to hear them play every last song in their discography. The way they play with bass riffs, synth loops and switch things up mid-song, they were just amazing. They played quite a few songs off their new album, Fasciination, and it's a must buy for me.



They ended with Glass Danse and there wasn't a single person in the place sitting still. Salt Lake is definitely a Faint town and they assured us they can't wait to come back in the future.