The Faint, Jaguar Love @ The Grand Ballroom, 8/5/08

It’s night 2 of 3 for following The Faint this week. Does it get any better than The Fillmore show?

The opening band, Jaguar Love, was a bit better on my ears than last night’s disco stinker, Glass Candy. The lead singer has a very high register voice, and paired with his blond mop of a haircut, I thought of him as a ’00s hipster version of David Lee Roth. Then I thought, I would love to hear him say, “I’m Dr. Rockso…I Do Cocaine…K-K-K-Yeah!!!!”. But I digress. The band didn’t seem to gel together- they have the aforementioned DLR vocalist, the bassist looks like he should be in the Black Crowes, I couldn’t even hear the keyboards, the guitarist was not memorable, and the drummer seemed bored. But, I think the name fit them well- the vocalist does this scream/roar a lot that I can only imagine sounds like jaguars in love.

Who picked these openers?

But, I will endure them for The Faint. Since I reviewed most of the songs already from last night’s show, I’ll just speak to the differences. The band seemed in a much looser mood, perhaps in celebration of their album being released that day. Todd smiled a lot. The lack of a barrier changed the vibe of the show as well- periodically throughout the set, people jumped on stage or attempted to crowd surf. The first chick to jump up there wanted to crowd surf, and I don’t know what she was thinking, because she was not dressed for it and was sporting a purse the size of my torso. Later on a chick ran on stage and drunkenly danced behind Jacob, and then tried to get all up on Todd, who pushed her out of the way to get to his mic to keep on with the vocals. Seriously, people, this is insanely disrespectful. That is their turf. If they invite you up, like a Dillinger show or Girl Talk or The Stooges or something, then, by all means, go. But don’t interrupt their set for your selfish drunken whims. Another chick jumped up their later and semi-politely asked Todd for a hug, and he half accepted half cringed as a bouncer dragged her away. People also threw neon sticks on stage. As rowdy as it sounds, the crowd didn’t hold a candle to the mosh pit mess I was in when they played Mezz in Dec. ’06.

The setlist changed up the order of some songs and added a couple of new ones. They started with Glass Danse and ended with Agenda Suicide, which was the opposite of The Fillmore show. Apparently they listened to my request from my last review, as they added Psycho to their set, and it was divine live. They popped in some golden oldies- Call Call and Victim Convenience– off Blank Wave Arcade. Paranoiattack ended the regular set this evening. After coming back out, Todd admitted to the lameness of the obligatory leaving the stage and coming back, and pummeled through the last 3 songs with high energy.

It was much hotter at this show, and the sound at this ‘grand’ ballroom is far inferior to The Fillmore. I observed this set from the right side of the stage, in order to take in all the goodness that is Dapose, and witness not 1, but 2 keyboard backbends (thank you!). I realized that the members of The Faint can all be matched to signature dance moves:

Dapose: the finger snap stomp headbang
Jacob: the backbend (duh!) and sidestep quick turn
Todd: the microphone cord asphyxiation toss
Joel: the limp arm over the shoulder groove
Clark: due to his seated position, the only observation here is that he is the only one that seems to be drinking a beer…

Thanks to HRC homie Eryn for getting the setlist last night and giving it to me. The stage guys for The Faint are really great about handing them over after the show.

Not to end on a negative note, but 2 big WTF’s about the merch situation. Why is only 1 person working the table? Also, there were some covert posters available, but they were not advertised to anyone. We happened to see one floating around after all had been handed out, and acquire it ‘aftermarket’, but as a collector, this is seriously annoying. There should be posters for sale at every show. /rant.

OVERALL: 8.75/10
The Faint performance: 9.25/10
Jaguar Love performance: 5.5/10
venue (The Grand Ballroom): 7/10
crowd/scene: 7.5/10
value ($22.50/ticket): 9/10
memorable: 9/10

Our homemade fans shirts: they spell HOSPITAL, but in the shot it looks like ‘HOSTAL’, which is pretty funny

Check out the head spinning The Geeks Were Right video on their site.

Check out my Broken Spindles review, Joel’s side project.