Live: Senses Fail/Bayside/Title Fight/Balance and Composure

WAREHOUSE LIVE — 11/14/2010: Senses Fail rocked the stage in the “Out With The In Crowd” tour at Warehouse Live. The New Jersey post-hardcore band toured with Bayside, Title Fight, and last but not least, Balance and Composure.

But before frontman Buddy Nielsen could kill the stage with an amazing performance, the Senses Fail fans had to wait for the other bands to warm up the stage. First up was Balance an Composure, who’ve been often compared to Brand New in their Devil and God era. They started off with a slow, calm set and gradually built up the intensity. They definitely warmed up the crowd with their nice, catchy melodies. Many were singing along, while others didn’t know the lyrics but still had a good time.

Title Fight brought a faster, louder set, with songs that got the crowd very excited. Crowd-surfing started right away, with the start of the first song. People were going crazy, and by now, the crowd was getting bigger, so there was more commotion.

Bayside received a great welcome from their fans, who sang their hearts out through out their whole set. But even though those die-hard Bayside fans were having the time of their life, most of the people seemed bored. The crowd kept getting smaller and smaller, as people left to buy drinks, smoke, or just go talk in the back. When they played “My Name Is Jonas,” a Weezer cover, most of the crowd started coming back and singing along. And soon after they reeled the crowd back in, it was time for what everyone had been waiting for.

Senses Fail made a great entrance; there were kids screaming, jumping, and pushing to get a closer look at Buddy Nielsen, who jumped on stage and got crazy in no time. Frontman Nielsen set the mood for a great show with his constant moving around and jumping, as he started the show with “Shark Attack.” It was evident that he had improved his screaming, and even his singing had gotten a lot better.

I was enjoying their performance so much that after the first three songs were over and I had to leave the photo pit, I went into the crowd to continue photographing Buddy giving his all. I was hoping to obtain better lighting from afar, since the stage lighting wasn’t as great as it usually is at Warehouse. As I pushed my way into the crowd, I noticed how everyone — and I mean everyone — was really into them, whether they knew the lyrics or not. The crowd was very diverse; there were kids from 8 years old on up to grown folks in their 30s or even 40s. Goes to show that music has no boundaries.

The energy was intense, so much so that even the older crowd that consisted of people in their late 20s up to mid 30s was going insane, crowd-surfing, and hardcore dancing. At this point, the whole place was packed. Being the great performer that he is, Buddy definitely showed great presence, with energy that had him running around stage. He amazed his fans with the improvement of his screaming on songs like “The Irony of Dying on your Birthday” and “Bite to Break Skin.”

The second song Senses Fail played was “New Years Eve,” a song from new album The Fire, followed by “Bonecrusher,” “Calling All Cars,” and “Cute When You Scream.” Everyone sang along to every single one of their songs, and as the show went on, the louder the singing got. The song “The Fire,” the title track from their new album, was also on the set list; it’s the first song on their new album, with very hopeful lyrics: “It’s ok to feel lost / It just means you’re alive.”

The very dedicated fans who already knew the lyrics to the new album repeated those words in a soft melody along with Nielsen. The band also played some of the crowd’s favorite songs, like “Buried a Lie,” ending with great hits like “Lungs Like Gallows” and “Can’t Be Saved.” The highlight of the evening was the final song, “187,” from their first EP, From the Depths of Dreams. Everyone screamed along non-stop until the music cut off. END

Photos by Ana Pacheco.