After a four year sabbatical following the success of their outstanding fourth album Wet From Birth, The Faint’s latest album, Fasciinatiion had a lot to live up to. But The Faint have obviously been busy – spending their time creating strong melodies, catchy synths and lots of dirty, pounding dance-punk.

Cargo is hot and heaving on a humid August evening. Todd Fink sports a mad-scientist style white coat and goggles which he repeatedly has to clean as the fug of other people’s sweat condenses on the lenses.

Opening song, ‘Agenda Suicide’, whips the overheated crowd into a feverish frenzy. After four years of waiting, it’s the last night of summer and there’s a whiff of hedonism in the air. That, or the aroma of 800 armpits. Perspiration-drenched bodies thrash frenetically. Indie fringes flick sweat in every direction.

Silhouetted against a projected film background, the band belt out classics like ‘Desperate Guys’ and ‘I Disappear’ to the gyrating sold-out crowd, plus new material like the excellent ‘The Geeks Were Right’ (reminiscent of Flight of the Conchords song, ‘The Humans Are Dead’) and ‘Get Seduced’.

Although many dance-punk outfits would struggle to achieve a career spanning 13 years and five albums, The Faint proved they can still deliver a tremendous live show. Welcome back - we’ve missed you.

Pic: Rachel Slack