Top five live shows of 2025

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club

Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, which hasn’t released a new album in over seven years and has played live only sporadically for the past few years, at last returned to the stage for a headlining tour to mark the 20-year anniversary of their third LP, Howl.

BRMC played the album in full, followed by some of their hardest rock songs, lighting up a crowd packed “like sardines” into the Summit Music Hall in Denver on Sept. 28.

The band, singers and multi-instrumentalists Robert Levon Been and Peter Hayes and drummer Leah Shapiro, impressed at every turn. 

Read more: BRMC return with a 'Howl'

The Damned

The Damned brought their “Black Album tour” to Dallas for an exhilarating show at the Granada Theater on May 18.

Although they did not play their 1980 masterwork in its entirety, they had all four members from the album’s lineup on board, including drummer Rat Scabies, who recently rejoined the band after too long a time away.

The Damned, along with TV Smith’s The Adverts, transported concertgoers back to the early days of UK punk. 

Read more: The Damned go back to ‘Black’ in Dallas

The Faint with Plack Blague and Jeff in Leather

The Faint, a band instrumental in putting Omaha on the musical map, swung through the Midwest to close out their first US 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 best of the two. Later in the year, the band was back at it, playing Omaha again, with a standout gig at the Admiral on Nov. 9.

Read more: The Faint bring homegrown tour to Des Moines

Cold Cave 

I finally got the chance to see one of the newer bands I have been obsessed with the last five years, Cold Cave, and they didn’t disappoint with their show March 28 at the Gothic Theatre in Denver.

The opening artists, Buzz Kull and Kontravoid, helped build up the intensity with their heavy EDM beats. Then Cold Cave took the stage and played fan favorites from throughout their discography, like “Glory,” “Confetti” and “Underworld USA.” They leaned heavily on their latest album, Passion Depression, playing songs like “Shadow Dance” and “Blackberries” as well as tracks from the EP Fate In Seven Lessons in the encore with “Prayer From Nowhere” and the powerful show-ender “Promised Land.”

Be sure to check out Cold Cave, a band that records and distributes their own records and CDs via their label, Heartworm. —Christopher Windle

The Effigies

I was lucky to see The Effigies, a fantastic punk band out of Chicago, on May 16 at the Slowdown in Omaha. I have been a huge fan of theirs for a long time. 

While their lead singer, John Kezdy, passed away in 2023, their current singer, the energetic Geoff Sabin, helped make the show not only powerful but also a straight-out blast. The band played crowd favorites like “Below The Drop,” “Quota,” “Haunted Town” and “We’ll Be Here Tomorrow.”

If you’re a fan of punk music and have not heard of The Effigies, do yourself a favor and listen to them. Out of the many great Chicago punk bands, they’re one of the best. —Christopher Windle

Honorable mentions: ABC and Howard Jones, Clan of Xymox, Front Line Assembly, Laetherstrip

Photos by Christopher Windle and Karen Duran Windle

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 show straight 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.

The Faint displays the best of Omaha at the Waiting Room

The Faint proved that it's not only Omaha's best live band, but Omaha's best band, at a packed Friday night show May 24 at the Waiting Room.

In the eyes of some, The Faint may no longer be an Omaha band, with two of its members now living elsewhere. But the Faint still records in the city, so it could still be considered the band's home base.

Closeness, Faint frontman Todd Fink's group with his wife, Orenda Fink, was the first band to warm up the audience, playing several songs written ahead of the tour. The new tracks included one inspired by the California desert where the Finks now live. The band has a big, dynamic sound, especially for one made up only of two singers, a guitar, bass, and synths.

Closeness. All photos by Christopher Windle.

The crowd, growing in number by the moment as the time drew near for The Faint to take the stage, also seemed to appreciate the melancholy, '80s inspired sound of the second opening band, Choir Boy.

The Waiting Room seemed at or close to capacity as the headliners stormed onstage, opening with "Quench the Flame" off new album "Egowerk." It's quite an experience to watch the band from near front-row center. I was surrounded by fans whose arms flailed along with Fink's, and heads that banged just like guitarist Dapose's and keyboardist Graham Ulicny's.

The Faint followed with "The Geeks Were Right" and "Desperate Guys," displaying the best of a band with seven studio albums. There was little room for a breather through the first several songs; I decided to retreat away from the stage for the rest of the show.

The band relied heavily on its back catalog, playing only four songs from "Egowerk." But "Chameleon Nights" and "Child Asleep," an intense way to start the show's encore, were definite highlights. The band has been playing the other "new" song, "Young & Realistic," for about three years.

But when a band has as impressive a catalog of songs as The Faint, it's hard the skip the career high points: the majestic "The Conductor," "Worked Up So Sexual," and "Glass Danse," which closed the show.

Though Omaha may not exactly be The Faint's hometown anymore, the "ex-hometown" crowd certainly embraced the band as its own, sing-shouting along to songs like "Paranoiattack" and "Agenda Suicide."

And I wouldn't be surprised if many in the audience came back for The Faint's encore performance the following night.

The Faint at the Slowdown

Omaha's The Faint came home for a holiday once again as the band played the Slowdown for the first of two shows celebrating the new year.

The Faint last appeared before a hometown audience on Halloween. On Dec. 30, the band played a slightly altered set list of its "Capsule" best-of concert.

The Faint took the stage past 11 p.m. after two opening acts. The first two performers were among The Faint's best openers yet: Closeness, The Faint vocalist Todd Fink's new side project, and the entertaining Plack Blague, billed as America's Leather Band from Lincoln, Nebraska.

The crowd was already in the mood to party when The Faint took the stage. All the highlights that fans were expecting were there in the remixed show. The band opened in dramatic fashion with "The Conductor" and gained steam as the set list of new-new wave went on.

All photos by Christopher Windle.

The crowd cheered for the old songs as well as the new, some dancing with abandon for recent single "Young & Realistic," one of the band's best efforts yet. The audience reaction was only appropriate for a band that displays so much energy on stage themselves.

For the encore, there was a new year's surprise, which the band decided to play as a practice run for the next night's New Year's Eve show and dance party. The band launched into Prince's "1999," the music matching nearly note for note with the original, though Fink dropped part of a verse. The crowd went bonkers for the celebratory tribute to the '80s icon.

But the excitement only built after that, as the band ended the show with "Let the Poison Spill From Your Throat," "Paranoiattack," and "Glass Danse." It was a great way to close out the year for the band who has been on tour promoting an album featuring its best songs from its 20-year career.

The Faint live at Sokol Auditorium

The Faint have been carrying the new wave torch since the late 1990s, a point the band hit home in its hometown with a thriller of a show on Halloween.

The set list touched on nearly every point of the band's career. From the now-vintage new wave of "Worked Up So Sexual" to two of its newest tracks, the futuristic "Skylab1979" and "Young & Realistic."

The two new songs are on The Faint's "Capsule" best-of collection. For fans of new wave bands like Duran Duran, The Faint are a must-listen. The Faint was regularly mentioned in the same breath as Duran when the band first rose to prominence along with other acts from Omaha's Saddle Creek Records.

There were some great bands to come out of that scene. Bright Eyes was the most talked about, and Cursive and Rilo Kiley were even better. But The Faint blew them all away. The Faint was the most innovative of the bunch with a synthesizer, and two of its members play keyboards during the live show.

Another reason for Duranies to have a listen: I once mentioned to members of The Faint that their band was almost as good live as Duran, and they said they took it as a compliment.

After getting an assist from post-punk legends Gang of Four, The Faint started its nonstop dance party. After adding in the Halloween atmosphere, the tour-closing Omaha show was especially rowdy. Many in the crowd, and the band, wore costumes. Guitarist Dapose was Angus Young, and keyboardist Graham Ulicny, below, was Jesus (or Keysus).

The Faint, like Duran, not only sounds great live, but puts on an energetic show. Singer Todd Fink, with his trademark hat, flailed his arms wildly, and Dapose got into some serious head-banging, with his mop of hair swirling about.

The set list built in intensity, from tender opener "Southern Belles in London Sing" (which a Nebraskan knows includes a reference to Omaha's Eppley Airfield) to more aggressive tracks like "Mental Radio" and "Evil Voices." Those two are off the band's last studio album, the superb "Doom Abuse." The band also played the OMD-sounding "Damage Control" from that album.

The Faint took heavily from "Danse Macabre," playing six songs off its best-known album. Highlights were "The Conductor" and "Agenda Suicide." But there were five off follow-up "Wet from Birth," including "Southern Belles," "Desperate Guys," and "I Disappear." And the band didn't forget "Fasciinatiion," playing "The Geeks Were Right."

The Faint brought things to a close with "Glass Danse" off "Danse Macabre," the four members gathering triumphantly at the front of the stage at show's end before an ever-appreciate hometown audience.

A fish-eye view of The Faint, at top, and a look at the light show, above. (All photos by Christopher Windle)