By Stephanie Robinson (Stefny! at the Disco)
I don’t know about you, but I really needed to be somewhere on Tuesday night that didn’t involve a TV or the internet, so I attended the sold-out Senses Fail and Saves the Day show at Emo’s, the first of their co-headlining tour. Each band celebrated milestones for pivotal albums: Saves The Day’s 1999 Through Being Cool and Senses Fail’s 2004 Let It Enfold You. Each band had around 70 minutes of stage time, and those records are 33 minutes and 44 minutes respectively, so they also graced us with a few other monumental tracks.
At 8:25, the lights dimmed for Saves The Day. I’m not sure what the epic instrumental track playing as they came out was, but it was very much giving Elvis and “Also Sprach Zarathustra.”
Chris Conley and the guys played through Through Being Cool front to back and looked like they were having the most fun doing it. Conley – the only original member of the band – was only 19 when the album was released in November of 1999, and I would believe you if you told me he was still the same age while he was up there. I was absolutely confounded by his shirt though. I still cannot tell what was on it. Help?
By 9:05 the album was finished and they began serenading us with additional tracks from their discography, from Stay What You Are, In Reverie, and Ups & Downs. “At Your Funeral” was almost a religious experience with everyone in the crowd singing every word, hands in the air, and rocking out.
“How many of you saw us at the old Emo’s?” Chris asked. He mentioned they had played there with bands like H2O, New Found Glory, and Alkaline Trio. RIP to a real one.
Around 9:30, Saves the Day concluded their set and headed off while the changeover for Senses Fail began.
Speaking of Elvis (maybe they had a thing going on here), at 10:10 “Suspicious Minds” started playing over the speakers. It got progressively louder during the duration of the song, and by the end was basically full blast. I was immediately taken by the animations projected during the set. Their skeleton mascot (Grim Reaper?) was prominently featured in each, and I think he’s the cutest thing.
My notes during this set include “More dudes should wear crop tops. Bring back the 80s!” and “Buddy dancing around the stage is so cute.” Lead singer Buddy Nielsen also mentioned that they played at the old Emo’s. Fun fact: according to Concert Archives, the two bands actually played TOGETHER at the old Emo’s, alongside The Early November and Emanuel in 2005!
Buddy is a lot like me in that he speaks in movie quotes and memes. He set up “Rum Is For Drinking, Not For Burning” by referencing “Dazed and Confused” and saying there was a party at the moontower. Later in the set, he quoted the Paul Rudd “Hot Ones” meme: “Look at us… who’d have thought.”
“Martini Kiss,” the last song on LIEY ended at 11:08 and the band took a whole minute to go play peekaboo before coming back for the encore of 4 additional songs, including my personal all-time fave “Can’t Be Saved.”
I am SO GLAD this was the first show of tour and that the ending wasn’t spoiled for me. Who’s to say if it will carry on this way… but for the final song of the night, Chris came back on stage for what Buddy called the “#1 song in New Jersey” – “Helena” by My Chemical Romance. It was epic. It was thrilling. It was hilarious and unexpected. It was beautiful.
If I didn’t have to work today, I would’ve driven to Dallas to do it all over again. 10/10, highly recommend seeing both bands. Their fun is infectious and it certainly provided an excellent distraction from the world.