Alt rock faves Failure are on tour this year to promote their excellent new album Location Lost, and The Shelter in Detroit was one of the first stops. What a treat it was to catch this influential '90s group, still featuring their classic line-up, at one of the smallest rock clubs Detroit has to offer! A nearly sold-out crowd gathered early with anticipation and experienced a sampling of songs from each of the band's albums, not leaving out their most famous numbers but not lingering too long on 20th century material vs. songs they've released following a lengthy hiatus.
After an engaging opening set by All Under Heaven and a short set change, Failure took the stage to enthusiastic applause. Singer/guitarist/bassist Ken Andrews and co-founder, singer/bassist/guitarist/keyboardist Greg Edwards took turns delivering lead vocals and solos throughout the show, and drummer Kellii "Fucking" Scott, with the band since 1994, provided technically precise and consistent beats and rhythms through every song. The set was a nice mix of songs from the band's seven albums with extra focus, as always, on tracks from Fantastic Planet, their most known and successful LP and final release before their 17-year break that came at the end of a run on the 1997 Lollapalooza tour.
Easing into things with the new track, "A Way Down," Failure established the vibe and engaged the crowd with the Fantastic Planet album track "Smoking Umbrellas," which sonically paved the way for the rest of the night. The dense stage smoke and back lighting (without spotlights) added to the intimacy of the vibe and the anonymity of the band members. Focusing on 21st century material near the beginning of the show allowed for contrast with the classic '90s tracks, which began to appear mid-way through the main set. "Frogs" and "Undone" from Magnified and "Macaque" from Control were brief salutes to the band's earliest fans and reminded newer converts of how it all started in the heady days of grunge rock.
The remainder of the main set ramped things up even further with three more Fantastic Planet tracks, including the band's biggest hit, "Stuck on You," which predictably got the biggest reaction of the night. Considering the size of their catalog, Failure does a great job of balancing their set lists to ensure their most popular and well-known album is always represented more than any other while working in a taste of all the others. Considering they played Fantastic Planet in full each night on a popular 20th anniversary tour in 2016, it's understandable the band would want a balanced blend of songs at any given show rather than always or only focusing on the most well-known numbers, though their audiences would never complain to get more from that particular album.
Following a short encore break, Failure returned to the stage to perform one more new track, "The Rising Skyline," and two more from Fantastic Planet to close the show, including the crunchy ballad "The Nurse Who Loved Me," which gained tremendous recognition after A Perfect Circle's cover version made it famous to an entire audience of people who may not even have heard of Failure until long after it was a crowd favorite. Partly because of that elevated status, and partly because it's one of the few Failure songs in which the lyrics can be more clearly understood, that particular track received the greatest amount of crowd participation and had everyone in the room singing along, something that appears to be both old hat and also still appreciated by the band members themselves, who both expected and encouraged it before and during the song's performance. The show ended on a high note with "Another Space Song," and the members of the band took a bow and briefly met with fans once the house lights came up. All told, Failure's current show is a perfect fit for any fan of the group, especially those who have continued to follow their new material released over the past 12 years, and even to the uninitiated, it summarizes their sound, their style, and their current vibe perfectly. Considering the agonizing detail that goes into the songwriting, performance, and production of their material, that's no small task.
Failure (5/19/26) set list:
A Way Down
Smoking Umbrellas
The Air's on Fire
Counterfeit Sky
Headstand
Frogs
Macaque
Undone
Sergeant Politeness
Submarines
Stuck on You
Heliotropic
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The Rising Skyline
The Nurse Who Loved Me
Another Space Song
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