Senses Fail at The New Oasis Sparks, Nevada

Reviewed on Nov 25, 2005 by TestmyArms

On my way to the Senses Fail, Saves The Day, and The Early November show I was very anxious. Normally, I don’t tend to get butterflies in my stomach before shows like this, however I knew tonight would be different. I was right, tonight was very different. The butterflies and anxiousness dropped as soon as I saw the undeniably shitty crowd of eleventeen year olds and My Chemical Romance clones everywhere.

After a long wait in 30 degree weather between the time of doors and showtime in Reno, Nevada, the band from Vagrant records, Emanuel, started things off for the night. I had never heard much about Emanuel besides that they were Christian. I wasn’t too sure what to expect since they seemed to have a descent turnout. Emanuel came out very alive and seemed to have the crowd hooked from open to close. To be honest, the first thing I did when I got home was looked them up on purevolume.com to reassure myself I wasn’t mislead. After seeing this band I wasn’t too sure where the word “Christian” ever came into play, but I loved it.
Next was The Early November. I had the privilege of talking to Ace Enders before the show and he was nothing short of amazing on and off the stage. Being a huge fan of TEN, I was stoked to see them live. They opened with “Every Nights Another Story” and continued to play songs from the album “The Rooms Too Cold”. “Baby Blue” and “The Mountain Range In My Living Room” had the audience on the balls of their feet throughout the night. TEN introduced some new material, explaining that it would be a little unexpected. A wild use of keyboards were thrown in and some interesting dancing done from Ace as well. TEN seemed to play with more aggressiveness then I would have imagined by just listening to their albums. All and all, they were great. Anticipation grew for Saves The Day throughout the crowd as TEN ended their set with “Sesame Smeshame”.
Finally, what myself and the older crowd of fans around me had been waiting for. “Saves The Mutha Fuckin Day” a group yelled from behind me. STD defiantly saved this show. Opening with “Firefly” from the 2001 album “Stay What You Are”, the crowd was immediately hooked. New material was played, but the classics such as “Cars and Calories” and “Nightingale” were sung throughout the massive amount of true music followers attending the show. STD ended with “At Your Funeral” as many kids piled out of the venue, obviously not giving Senses Fail the time of day. Unfortunately, at the end of the night, I was contemplating why I hadn’t left with the rest of true Reno scene followers.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Senses Fail. I always have since the release of the EP “From The Depths Of Dreams.” Maybe I wasn’t so impressed with their performance due to the fact that I have seen them live more times than I can count. For me their performance was too predictable. The crowd that came out for SF consisted of shaggy hair boys trying to fit into their sister’s pants, and the typical 12 year old girls you see throughout Myspace wearing their favorite pair of ballet flats and 80's style belts that they didn’t put through the loops. Senses Fail opened with “Tie Her Down” off the new album “Let It Enfold You”. It just happened to be the same song they opened with the few months before when I saw SF play Reno. “Buried A Lie” was played and of course the sickening crowd of what has now become the Reno scene was jumping up and down like springs. “Free Falling Without A Parachute” and “Martini Kiss” were both played before front man Buddy stopped the show to confront a fan. This scenario was actually quite funny to me however, since the guy standing at the bar flipping SF off the whole show happened to be a friend of mine, a drummer from an amazing local band in Reno called Ashton. Buddy spoke out about how he was sick of the disrespect and asked the guy [Steve] to come down to the stage and take part in a guitar battle. Steve approached the stage as Buddy threw his arm around him holding out the microphone. “So Steve,” Buddy said, “Why are you flipping us off?” “Well, to be honest, I don’t think you guys are very good,” Steve replied. I laughed realizing what this show reminded me of. Buddy had a shaved head and sadly resembled Dan from Story Of The Year just way too much for my likings. Senses Fail left the stage not fooling the fans of what was to come. “187" I said to myself. Sure enough, Senses Fail came back onto the stage with the opening guitar riffs to “187".
Despite the energy Senses Fail put off in this show, I’d have to say that this night would have been completely pointless had the three opening acts not been incredible. A shitty crowd and a big headed Senses Fail just did not mix well. After interviewing the band on the bus I came to realize how much I will always love this band’s music, but yet always hold a grudge against them at the same time. To wrap things up, if you are looking for great vibes put off by some amazing bands along with the changes of a band you have grown to love and some kids to defiantly laugh at, the Saves The Day/Senses Fail Tour is for you.

Gig Information

Venue:The New Oasis Sparks, Nevada
Date:November 23rd, 2005

Support Acts:

Saves The Day
The Early November
Emanuel

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