Senses Fail Honor Fifteen Years of “Life Is Not A Waiting Room”

Their set was to consist of the entire album in addition to hits from prior albums, which was truly delivered. The twenty-eight stop tour included three festivals and hitting twenty-five states along the way. Denver made stop number twenty-two at Summit Music Hall, nestled right in the heart of the city. Post-hardcore band Thousand Below opened for supporting band Holding Absence at all marked locations, setting the energy and matching the tone for Senses Fail.

Thousand Below drew in quite the crowd as attendees continued to fill the venue after doors had opened only a half hour before. The four man band played a bulk of songs from their newly released album, “Hell Finds You Everywhere”. Lead singer, James Deberg shared that this was their third studio album and expressed gratitude to those that had seen them live before. Before you knew it their set was over and they exited the stage before a fifteen minute intermission.

By the time Holding Absence took the set the venue was packed - the main standing area was filled all the way back and behind the soundboard, the balcony didn’t have a single empty chair and the lower sides were packed. The crowd was ready and were having a great time. There was a small mosh pit in the center of the main floor as crowd surfers popped up, floating their way across those amongst them to the front barricade. Summit staff were quick to see those coming and were happy to ensure they were safe. Holding Absence thanked Denver before playing their final song and welcoming Senses Fail next. Everyone howled as they aided in cheering the crowd on.

Crew quickly flooded the stage slowly revealing various lighting fixtures, several platforms placing drummer Steve Carey’s set towering the stage, and a black backdrop with the head of the gas mask man from the “Life Is Not A Waiting Room” album and “Senses Fail” spelled right above it in white. As the crowd anxiously awaited the band to start, nostalgia filled the area. I swear there wasn’t one person that wasn’t shouting the words to the songs that played overhead, such as “Helena” by My Chemical Romance and “Misery Business” by Paramore. After several songs played and the crowd continued to shout along to and after what seemed like an hour, the overhead music and the lights faded out - which only meant one thing. Senses Fail came out one by one starting with Jason Milbank (lead guitar and backing vocals) and ending with lead singer Buddy Nielsen. As promised the band performed the entirety of their newest album, with a handful of solos from rhythm guitarist Gavin Caswell. After an hour the four bandmates thanked Denver and wished them a goodnight before leaving the stage. The crowd chanted until they came back out about three minutes later. Their encore remained about a half hour long wrapping up the night playing older songs such as “Bite to Break Skin”.

Senses Fail celebrated not only the tour of their newest and eighth studio album, but twenty-two years as a band and Denver was excited to celebrate that with them.