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| Failure @ the Great American Music Hall on July 7th, 2022 (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
The wait was finally over this past Thursday night. Failure's return to San Francisco was one of two shows that I've had on my radar for months now. Although we had a chance to speak with Failure's drummer, Kellii Scott, the last time they came to town back in 2019, I wasn't able to make that show, so this was a long time coming. That wrong was righted Thursday night when the band pulled into town to play the Great American Music Hall -- their second to last show on the current tour in support of their December release of Wild Type Droid. The album, their sixth over the past 30 years, is easily one of the best albums to be released this year and I'd even go so far to say it's even better than the critically acclaimed 1996 Fantastic Planet.
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| Failure's Kellii Scott @ the Great American Music Hall (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
In terms of the show, the tour didn't include an opener but instead, the show began with a 30-minute highlight reel of their upcoming documentary projected on a screen that hung above the stage. They've only released this 7-minute trailer below so far, so we all got an extended look at what will hopefully be released later this year. The 30-minute cut was an extension of the trailer below and didn't feature any interview or live footage of the band themselves, only longer segments of the artists who've been interviewed in the trailer.
As the preview was concluding, the band made their way onto the Great American's stage and launched into "Submarines" -- one of my favorite tracks off the new album that you can hear below. The layered intricacies of the voices and instruments make "Submarines" a perfect example of what makes Failure stand out. Ken Andrews does lead vocal duties on the vast majority of songs but his voice is complemented by Greg Edwards to create a melodic melancholy of tones. That vocal sound then fits in place between the other instruments the band have mastered since 1990. Listening to their albums and then seeing the live performance really gives an added perspective of how each of the members carve out their own individual space within each of their songs, but yet at the same time, each of their parts compliment the rest to create these incredibly cohesive songs.
Their second song, "Mercury Mouth", was another off Wild Type Droid and saw Ken switch from guitar to the bass and was honestly more of a showcase track for Kellii Scott on the drums. But just as I typed that, it really wasn't a Kellii showcase. Although I love his drum fills on this track, once again, it's the combination of the three players that come together to make this song so special. Ken had the lone vocals this time around while he laid down a bouncing bass line and gave Greg the room for his spacey droning guitar riffs. After 'Mercury', they went back to the start with "Macaque" off their first album, 1992's Comfort. You might think there'd be a stark difference between their new material and a 30 year old song, but in reality, the structure was identical -- maybe a little rougher around the edges, but Ken, Kellii, and Greg's formula remains consistent.
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| Ken Andrews of Failure @ the Great American Music Hall (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
From there, the band bounced around their catalog sprinkling older 'hits' with more songs from Wild Type Droid. I say 'hits' since the band was never really a huge commercial success, but always a critical darling, especially with their 1996 release Fantastic Planet. So as the night went on, the glaring omission from their setlist was anything off that album. It wasn't until their 'encore' that they finally decided to play not one, but six tracks from Fantastic Planet.
But before I get to that though, a few other highlights from their main set included the atmospheric "Bring Back the Sound", a song that had Ken on guitars while Greg played bass -- and then right after that one, Ken swapped to the bass and Greg went back to guitar for "Bad Translation". Both are tracks from their Wild Type Droid album and both are fantastic, but then again, that whole album is great.
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| Failure's Greg Edwards @ the Great American Music Hall (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Up to this point of the show, Ken had been on lead vocals throughout, but stepped back to give Greg his lead vocal time on "High Moon". The song starts with just Greg playing a delicate guitar line as his emotive and fragile vocals sing the first two verses -- almost at a whisper -- 'you said we'd give up tonight, no more revivalism, you said we'd come back down' and 'now you're lonely or ruined, open your head let the tourists in, I thought we'd give up tonight.' It's only at the chorus when Kellii and Ken join in with the drums and backing vocals and bass lines.
The band closed their main set with "Headstand", the last of the songs from Wild Type Droid for the night. This one was their first single from the album and the lone video they've created so far. Give it a try below, and then do yourself a favor and listen to the full album that I've embedded below as well! You'll thank me for it. Trust me.
So that gets us caught up to the end of their main set and now to their six-song encore exclusively featuring tracks from Fantastic Planet. The band started off with the instrumental "Segue 3" to create even more of a break between the first set and this one, if the band leaving the stage wasn't already enough of a forced break. Fan-favorite "The Nurse Who Loved Me" followed next and got the folks surrounding me on the floor of the Great American moving. "Stuck on You" was another hit that continued the party around me. Clearly, those 1996 songs still resonate with Failure fans and we in the audience at the Great American tried to give back the same passion that the 3-piece had given us throughout the night.
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| Kellii Scott of Failure @ the Great American Music Hall (Photo: Kevin Keating) |
Unfortunately, the band wrapped-up their tour on Friday night in Los Angeles, so we'll all have to wait for the next time that they hit the road to catch them again. Until that time, be sure to check out their new album and follow them on social to keep up with their plans like we do.
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