Ladytron and The Faint at the Henry Fonda Theater

After blitzing the Grove of Anaheim, The Faint and Ladytron drove up the 5 to stop by the Henry Fonda Theater for a two night stand. I somehow thought Ladytron was going to headline on this particular night but was mistaken once I saw the posted set times.

Unfortunately, I encountered a photopass mix up and missed Crocodiles. It would have been interesting to see how well they were received given their confrontational performance at the Grove of Anaheim. I hopefully will catch them again when they play the Troubadour on June 6th.

Ladytron







It would have been interesting to see Ladytron close out the evening and possibly add a few more songs into their set but I was still glad I got to see them two nights in a row. Given that they were in the second slot, Ladytron stuck to the same setlist as the night before and opened with "Black Cat" that bled into "Runaway".

I was secretly hoping they could mix it up with "Evil" or "Playgirl" but still was excited when they unveiled "True Mathematics" and the dually illuminated disco balls during "Discotraxx". Mira Aroyo (Vocals/Synthesizers) took the microphone off the stand and danced around a little for "Fighting In Built Up Arenas" to the crowd's delight. It did seem like the crowd appreciated Ladytron even more compared to the previous night.

With the addition of the Moog Voyager in their setup, It should also be noted the live mixes of the songs are different compared the prior tours. Even though I was hearing the same setlist again, the songs still seemed fresh as I tried to scan for audible inclusions of the Moog.

The strobe lights for this particular show also seem to have been accelerated as it was even more difficult to capture good images of the band. It does support the notion that bands bring their "A+" game to shows in Los Angeles. Ladytron has the good fortune of crossing the sea to open up a handful of dates for Depeche Mode before possibly returning to the studio to record their follow up. European vacation anyone?

Ladytron setlist at the Henry Fonda Theater (4/26/09)
"Black Cat"
"Runaway"
"High Rise"
"Ghosts"
"Seventeen"
"I'm Not Scared"
"True Mathematics"
"Season Of Illusions"
"Soft Power"
"Discotraxx"
"International Dateline"
"Fighting In Built Up Arenas"
"Tomorrow"
"Destroy Everything You Touch"

The Faint






With a slight nod to "Your Retro Career Melted", The Faint melted faces and careers alike with another knock out performance at the Henry Fonda Theater. Even though I missed Todd Fink's goggles and lab coat attire, Todd had a military coat on as he lead the soldiers of The Faint through another blazing set.

It is difficult to believe that the core line-up of The Faint have been around for ten plus years. The hard hitting songs kept suffocating the audience from the biting bass of "Dropkick The Punks" to the distorted vocals of "Your Retro Career Melted". The Faint flipped back and forth between their new album Fasciinatiion and older material.

Along with the seizure inducing strobe lights, a large projection screen flashed an assortment of twisted images matching the aural aesthetic of their songs. "Forever Growing Centipedes" was especially trippy with images of centipedes and skewed computer generated graphics.

Some of the other highlights from their set included "Desperate Guys", "Paranoiattack" and "Southern Belles in London Sing". The Henry Fonda was really shaking by the time they got to the encore and "Glass Danse" was its usual red hot blazing self. I also like The Faint's sense of humor by ending their set with "I Disappear". Given that this is their third tour of duty across the states, I think The Faint will probably take a well deserved break to recharge their synthesizers before embarking on their next record.

The Faint setlist at the Henry Fonda Theater (4/26/09)
"Mirror Error"
"Agenda Suicide"
"Dropkick The Punks"
"Your Retro Career Melted"
"The Conductor"
"Psycho"
"In Concert"
"Take Me To The Hospital"
"Machine In The Ghost"
"Desperate Guys"
"Get Seduced"
"Forever Growing Centipedes"
"Southern Belles In London Sing"
"Worked Up So Sexual"
"Paranoiattack"
Encore:
"The Geeks Were Right"
"Glass Danse"
"I Disappear"