The Faint at Debaser Slussen 8/9/2008
Support: MFMB
Swedish five-peace MFMB start off three out of five songs with promising up-tempo electro dance intros but manage to fall far from the expectations very soon. To put it simply, in all but the last song they are nothing more than a bit dull. Their intentions are good, trying to create indie rock electro disco (I can see why someone suggested them as support to The Faint) but it just doesn’t reach out, it doesn’t go that extra mile that is needed to stir things up and make them interesting. Sorry.
The Faint however, THE FAINT!
I was probably the only person left on this planet not to have heard The Faint before and wasn’t feeling too excited about going to see some überhyped electro band.
What I managed to hear from them on Youtube whilst eating, getting dressed and generally stressing around at home between work and catching the train gave me no hint of what I was about to experience. The Faint is clearly one of those brilliant bands you just have to see live. Because once at Debaser Slussen it is clear after about 30 seconds of this Omaha-based five piece on stage that the band fronted by the very attractive midget in crazy goggles and a doctor’s coat who moves his hips like its 1999, is going to make me fall in love, deeply.
Their rock’n’roll kick ass electrifying dancy music hits me like lightning on speed and continues to do so throughout, making my body tingle with excitement. I find myself laughing out loud to their crazy moves and clever lyrics presented together with silly beats and thrilling guitar riffs, and even though I am in the middle of a generally hard to please Swedish crowd I can’t stand still for a second.
They deliver songs off their new album Fasciination such as Get Seduced mixed with (what I have now learnt are) classics such as Paranoiaattack with brilliant stage presence and audience contact. When they disappear off stage after a sweaty set of 14 songs they make the audience go crazy many times over before they return to serve us three more, among which “the one for the geeks” The Geeks were right shines the strongest.
On the train home I can’t help but wonder how I survived before, not having had the (excuse my wordchoice, I had to) faintest idea of what I was missing.
Two days later I find myself in a state of total The Faint-addiction, not being able to stop listening to their newest release which takes me back to that night at Debaser over and over again.
If you too want to experience THE gig of the year, check out The Faint on their mindblowing tour. Check www.myspace.com/thefaint for dates.
