Fake Problems

Over the past few years, Fake Problems’ reach has broadened, with the band influenced by Cursive and Bright Eyes as much as by the working-class anthems of Bruce Springsteen. Its songs show an uncanny ability to simultaneously uplift and entertain (case in point: “The Dream Team,” from 2009’s It’s Great to Be Alive). Not every number is meant to be a sing-along, but that’s what happens at Fake Problems’ shows anyway. Frontman Chris Farren works the audience like a singer in a medicine show, with one hand clenched around the microphone stand and the other raised in the air — when he isn’t frantically strumming chords, that is. Expect hand clapping, finger pointing and other assorted elements of audience participation when the band hits the stage.