Rise Against & The Used w/ Senses Fail July 26, 2022 The Lot at The Complex
Reviewed and Photographed by Jacob Moniz
Despite the heat, fans lined the street outside The Complex just in time for Senses Fail to open for The Used and Rise Against this past Tuesday. Going into this concert I was pretty excited because I haven’t seen a concert set up on the outside stage at The Complex yet. So I was intrigued to see the stage setup. To my surprise, fans filled the outside lot all the way to the entry gate.
Senses Fail
I personally haven’t listened to Senses Fail before and I was pleasantly surprised. They put on a killer show with tons of energy. Even through all the heat, they had the crowd moshing and there were a decent amount of crowd surfers flying over people’s heads while the band continued to shred. It was great because while they were putting on their punk sounds beach balls would come flying into the photo pit from the crowd. All of these extra things going on made the show that much better. It was surprising to see the vocalist James “Buddy” Nielsen’s endurance as he screamed as hard as he could throughout each and every song. The crowd completely matched his energy making it a great opening set.
The Used
Next up was The Used. Anticipation grew as the stage crew set up while the house music kept the crowd entertained. The music had diminished and the crowd went wild greeting each band member with louder cheers as they took the stage one by one. Each member walked on with a grin from ear to ear filled with excitement to play. Starting off strong they played “Maybe Memories” which shot the energy way up. It was surprising to see the crowd go so wild after already moshing hard in the 90 º weather under the sun. Without hesitation they continued straight into one of my personal favorites “Take It Away”.
They kept ramping up the energy bringing in a multiple of crowd surfers and mosh pits full of punks running wild to the high-energy track. They went on to play hits like “The Taste of Ink”, “Pretty Handsome Awkward” and a handful of other great songs from their discography. It was great to have Orem natives back on a Utah stage again. They always put on great home state shows.
Rise Against
Fans cheered on the stage hands who carried on rugs with Rise Against logos. They were setting them down where each member was going to take the stage. Excitement grew as they broke down the set up from The Used and left the stage with just Rise Against’s drum kit. Finally, the house music stopped and the lot filled with a unified cheer. A brief newscaster intro played and the band proudly took the stage and started playing “Prayer of the Refugee”. With the concert being played in the lot, the surrounding apartment complex’s balconies filled with people who watched from above. During the song at least 4-5 crowd surfers were on top of the crowd.
They went on to play “The Violence” keeping the energy up. Right after they segued into “Satellite. During the final chorus of the song lead singer Tim McIlrath grabbed a megaphone and surprisingly it sounded incredible. They went on to play hits like “Re-Education(Through Labor)”, “Hero of War” and multiple other great tracks and finished off with “Give it All”. Right as they left the stage fans filled the lot with cheers screaming “Encore! Encore! Encore!” After a little time the band came back and went on to play “Survive” and then actually finished off the night with “Savior”.
This was a perfect show for The Lot at The Complex. Tons of room to mosh and crowd surf. These bands are some of Utah’s favorites in the punk scene. They’ll definitely be back. And the show will definitely be packed! It’s always a good time with Rise Against.
SETLIST:
- Prayer of the Refugee
- The Violence
- Satellite
- Help Is on the Way
- Ready to Fall
- Collapse (Post-Amerika)
- Re-Education (Through Labor)
- I Don’t Want to Be Here Anymore
- Dancing for Rain
- The Good Left Undone
- Hero of War
- Nowhere Generation
- Give It All
- Survive