The Faint bring homegrown tour to Omaha, Des Moines

The Faint, a band instrumental in putting Omaha on the musical map, swung through the Midwest to close out their first U.S. headlining tour in years with a show at Wooly’s in Des Moines on April 5.

They had also played other select cities, including their hometown, where they put on a sold-out concert at the Waiting Room on April 3. They capped a roster that also included fellow Nebraskans Plack Blague and Jeff in Leather.

Although the Omaha show was a sight to behold, the Des Moines concert was the standout of the two. The musicians played off the energy of a crowd of diehard fans who were there simply to enjoy the music.

Jeff in Leather, also of Omaha, kicked off the show with a set of hard-hitting dance tracks. He’s an enigmatic presence onstage, looking a little like a young Iggy Pop accompanied by a laser light straight show off a ’70s soft rock album cover.

Plack Blague in Omaha and The Faint in Des Moines, at top.
All photos by Christopher Windle.

Plack Blague—“America’s Leather Band,” hailing from Lincoln—followed, putting on a display of metal-tinged industrial music mixed with performance art. Raws Schlesinger was pure energy, dancing and posing on his onstage platform. He stripped off his leather shorts to perform the closing tracks in a jock strap, thrilling the crowd with anthems like “Man on Man” and “Feels So Good.”

The Faint were truly on fire. The band has played mainly festivals—including 2024’s Cruel World, along with Duran Duran—since their last U.S. tour. But frontman Todd Fink finally emerged from his home in Joshua Tree, where he runs the RECAPITATE hattery, for a 12-date headlining stint. He was joined by bassist/guitarist Dapose, keyboardist Graham Ulicny and drummer Clark Baechle, his brother.

The occasion? A celebration of the release of deluxe vinyl versions of two of their albums, Blank-Wave Arcade and Wet From Birth. They dusted off gems like set opener “The Passives” and “Victim Convenience,” as well as all the big tracks from those groundbreaking LPs. The energy kept rising throughout their set, especially from the midpoint, when the band delivered their opus, “The Conductor,” shrouded in fog. (Frustratingly, the fog machine was on the fritz during part of their Omaha show.)

Despite showcasing songs from the newly rereleased albums, the set list also drew heavily on the band’s biggest LP, Danse Macabre. (They beat Duran Duran to the punch of using that album title by over two decades.) For the encore, The Faint played two songs from the LP, “Let the Poison Spill From Your Throat” and “Glass Danse.” In between the two, they launched into the Blank-Wave Arcade track “Worked Up So Sexual,” joined onstage by backup dancers Schlesinger and Jeff in Leather. 

The Faint, in addition to being an Omaha treasure, are a bit of a hidden gem in the indie music scene. They rose alongside fellow Saddle Creek Records acts Bright Eyes, Cursive and Rilo Kiley in the early to mid-2000s but never quite made the big time. But no matter: In the U.S. Midwest, they’re appreciated as trailblazers in a scene that drew on new wave and synth pop to help revive those genres for a new generation. The Faint released their debut album, Media, three years before The Strokes’ Is This It—and without becoming the indie rock sensation that the latter band did.

But the concertgoers in Omaha and Des Moines just knew—truly appreciating all that The Faint has given us—and hopefully will keep on offering in the years to come.

ABC and Howard Jones put on the feel good concert of the season

Eighties hitmakers ABC and Howard Jones offered a cure for the winter blues and hope for brighter days ahead at their concert at Steelhouse Omaha on February 19.

The concert venue, not yet two years old, was also the site of an intimate Duran Duran show last May. The connection was noted by Richard Blade, the SiriusXM and KROQ DJ, who “opened“ for each band by regaling the audience with stories about the music of the decade and snippets of its famous songs. Those tracks included “Rio” and “The Reflex,” and Duran Duran were also featured on a list of 1st Wave listeners’ top six favorite bands, as detailed by Blade. 

While the DJ provided some light entertainment between sets, essentially a time used for stage setup, the crowd was there for the bands themselves, of course. And ABC was in top form, playing their biggest hits, with an emphasis on their U.K. chart-topping debut album, The Lexicon of Love. Those songs included “Show Me,” “Poison Arrow” and “Valentine’s Day.” ABC are led by original member and golden-voiced frontman Martin Fry, who struck a debonaire pose in his sparkly blazer and impossibly shiny shoes. He’s the rare vocalist who still sounds nearly as good as he did in his band’s heyday. 

ABC opened the show with their biggest U.S. hit, “When Smokey Sings,” dedicated to the legendary Smokey Robinson on his birthday. Other highlights included fellow smash singles “(How to Be a) Millionaire” and encore closer “The Look of Love.” But the real magic came when the band played the tender duo “All of My Heart” and “Be Near Me” back to back to end their main set.

ABC was hard to top, but Howard Jones immediately enthralled the audience with his keytar and colorful clothing. He and his band didn’t shy away from the ’80s references either, even bringing to mind Revenge of the Nerds and its talent show scene.

Jones and his band, which included Kajagoogoo bassist Nick Beggs, played that group’s U.K. number one single, “Too Shy” (co-produced by Nick Rhodes) in addition to his own slew of hits. It was impossible not to sing and dance along as Jones and the band offered a shot of positivity, playing everything from “New Song” and “What Is Love?” to “No One Is to Blame” and “Everlasting Love.” 

But the evening might be best summed up by its closing track, “Things Can Only Get Better,” which could very well be a theme song for these trying times. 

What’s clear is that ABC and Howard Jones easily delivered the feel good show of the winter—and possibly the entire year.

ABC photo by Karen Duran Windle. Howard Jones photos by Christopher Windle.