BITE ME! The Faint and Bright Eyes Live

The Faint / Bright Eyes

Tonight’s indie rock title fight is held, rather appropriately, in an old boxing arena. It promises to be an exciting night for all the gathered asymmetric haircuts.

In the red corner - the welcome return of dance punk/rave rock extraordinaires The Faint. Then, in the black corner, ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Emo-ha's very own local hero/hooded idol Conor Oberst (ably supported by his latest incarnation of Bright Eyes). Tonight, he is performing a live retelling of the less popular of his two recent simultaneous albums Digital Ash In A Digital Underground. Not using Clear Channel venues is a noble move by Conor but, sadly, this shed has piss poor sound like a big tin box rattling when on the floor. Since it is general admission, latecomers have to make do with overhanging boom box balconies. Strangely though for The Faint this worked to their advantage. From the first song to the last, this felt like the reason most were here.

Everyone is on their feet and the dance is on. This is the closest I have been to a rave in many a moon. They use cool back projections throughout their set on a pair of too small screens. The most impressive is during the track "Birth," which begins with sperms racing then continues through the life-cycle pinpointing key moment of personal history all in the space of just a few minutes. They come close to spontaneous combustion on "Paranoiaattack" and everyone is shaking something on their body. Speaking of shaking, the band doesn’t seem to have the ability to stay still for a single beat. They are constantly twitching. It was a stage full of wiry stick figures with electro shock limbs. I’m not sure how much going on is "live," and maybe it’s true that if the guys walked away from the tons of sequencers that filled the stage…well, who would notice? But, when something rocks as solid as "Drop Kick the Punks" does that matter? This is, after all, FUN.

While walking the narrow halls after the set, I have fun people watching everyone in their best Spaceland attire and the more-obscure-the-better T's. Speaking of T's, the merch line is enormous. If you ever wanted to define a license to print money here it is. Four security personnel ensure fair queuing and the line is long, very long, at least 300 or more people, who are all desperate for Saddle Creek’s new threads, buttons, patches, and even watches. (Good prices though.)

It was going to be a tall order for Conor to follow such a triumphant set with a collection of songs that A. people don’t really know or B. for that matter don't particularly care for. Initially, of course, there is a buzz through the hall but it’s so short lived and I’m pretty shocked. After watching the crowd swirling in a people soup below during The Faint, the sight of people formlessly staring into space during almost all of Bright Eyes came as a big anti-climax. Certainly nothing coming from the stage is nearly as danceable but, to be honest, except for the diehards hugging the stage barrier, the audience looked bored as they shuffled about uncomfortably waiting for a big moment that never came. I think part of the problem was the sheer amount going on at once. With 11 or 12 people on stage throughout you would expect plenty of layers and shapes. The trouble was that everyone played their instruments as one, constantly. This meant very little in terms of light and shade or color. It was just an enormous throbbing din. There was some gothic atmosphere and slow burning intensity, especially with projections of upside down crosses. Sadly, it’s pretty short lived and there just seemed to be a real lack of promised dynamics. Violins were drowned out by twin drums, and cellos were swamped by the same thump. Seriously, except for some great screeching work by Yeah Yeah Yeah’s guitarist Nick Zinner, nothing was distinguishable.

After about 30 minutes I too was bored, possibly spent from The Faint's explosion just before, or maybe just resigned to the fact that I know I won’t be hearing any of my fave Bright Eyes songs tonight. I then wandered off to buy a Faint hoody. Astonishingly, the line was still unfathomably long even though the show was still in full flow! But enough digging on the little guy; he tries hard and it’s obvious he has a certain presence, especially in the wet dreams of the teen girls hanging on his every utterance. Particularly cool was his hardcore in a hoody screamo whilst balancing on his keyboard bent over the constantly clicking photo pit below. He seems a bit pissed at Nick’s departure from the tour as he returns to his day job and tells us this a couple of times, and he clearly knows the edge he gives the band (no one swaggers better with an axe). After playing everything from the record he comes back on to praise his flock, whilst I leg it to my car before 6000 others leave to do the same. I drive home and think of how I remember Conor at Coachella 2 years ago. That gig was truly electrifying because he played songs that people wanted to actually hear. This show really paled in comparison to that, and judging by things I’ve read about this tour this wasn’t just an off night. -Glen