Our good friend and musical compatriot Douglas Young (also known as Love and Zombies, and he recently released a record, This Turned Out All Wrong, which you can find here) recently attended a night headlined by the one and only Failure. An alt-rock band from the 90’s that never gained the traction they should have, their album Fantastic Planet (and to an extent, their previous album Magnified) is highly revered in any discussion of overlooked 90’s music.
Check out the review after the jump, along with a playlist of the songs played live. There’s also a new song here if you’re interested.
Concert Review: An Evening with Failure – Live at The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco
Author: Douglas Young
May 15th, 2014
​When you hear the words “reunion tour” you can’t help but question, what are the motivations? One tends to wonder how solid the act will be after a long lapse in activity, and if there will be heart or even chemistry present. Fears and concerns were dashed as the band took their places on custom space themed podiums and stepped into “Another Space Song”. It was instantly clear, that this incantation of Failure wasn’t just bigger and louder than they were fourteen years ago; they were focused.
The set stepped it up a notch, following some audience disconnect with the more obscure “Frogs” and “Wet Gravity” when the opening riff of “Saturday Savior” began. Anyone who knows of their last album Fantastic Planet knows that the sound of those chords and that voice is tip of the iceberg of the classic grunge Failure sound.
The intimate night, which had no intrusion of an awkward opening act, but rather began with a short film comprised of a few surprises and several insights into the heart and mind of the band, continued with solid renditions of “Sergeant Politeness” and “Dirty Blue Balloons” (a song I didn’t get the meaning of the million times I’ve heard it, until last night when Ken Andrews was delivering the full scope in person). The surprisingly awesome track in the first of the three sections of the show was the droning on inset and epically ending Magnified finale, “Small Crimes,” which far exceeded the album version.
After a short intermission, Andrews and friends returned quietly to the stage, and blasted through the fan favorites portion of the set. If you kept up with the Failure’s blog posts on Facebook regarding the band’s dissatisfaction with “Smoking Umbrellas,” rest assured, it was much ado about nothing. Combined with flawless renditions of “Stuck on You,” “Solaris,” and “Heliotropic,” “Segue 3” into “The Nurse who Loved Me” was a sonically perfect way to go before the final hoorah.
For the encore of their third night out on The Tree of Stars Tour and hot off of the heels of releasing “Come Crashing” (the band’s first new song in eighteen years) , they treated the small but attentive room to a brand new song called “The Focus”. I’ll reserve judgment until I’ve had a few days or weeks to give it a proper listen.
For closing thoughts, I never noticed before, but their delivery was that of an old school, shy Weezer and yet I couldn’t help seeing (and especially hearing) so much Nirvana in their performance. Throughout the twenty song set, Andrews was never eccentric, but rather modest as Failure killed it; performing every aspect of every song in a manner that was beyond expectation. The bands’ final number “Daylight” came and went away too soon, but was a notably “fantastic” ending to phenomenal show. Bucket list item #61: Experience Failure live; check.
Setlist:
Another Space Song
Frogs
Wet Gravity
Saturday Savior
Sergeant Politeness
Segue 2
Dirty Blue Balloons
Let It Drip
Pillowhead
Small Crimes
Intermission:
Blank
Solaris
Smoking Umbrellas
Stuck On You
Heliotropic
Segue 3
The Nurse Who Loved Me
Encore:
Screen Man
*The Focus (premiere)
Daylight
