Concert Review: Failure at Le Poisson Rouge, Manhattan, NY

The first thing you notice when walking to Le Poisson Rouge, the 700-cap club in Manhattan’s East Village, is the age range in the massive line wrapped around the block. It’s not uncommon to see bands within the 90s alternative rock circuits attracting massive legions of fans that weren’t around during their commercial comeups (with bands like Deftones, Slowdive, and Duster to name just a handful), but it’s rare to see them pack out clubs instead of stadiums. For bands like Failure who have run around the music circuit for over 30 years, it’s quite refreshing to see people who were coming of age during the height of their record Fantastic Planet along with folks that are experiencing that same introduction in 2026. Sometimes you can't even tell between the kid and their parent who was more excited for the gig.

Failure took to the stage and played a highlight off their newest record Location Lost, “A Way Down,” getting folks to start banging their heads from the instant the bass kicked in. What struck me the most about Failure’s show was how indebted it was to the lower end sound, with Greg Edwards’ mighty bass causing the entire venue to shake. The low sounds didn’t detract from the guitars and keys that would come into play later in the set. Tracks like Fantastic Planet’s “Stuck on You” struck that balance between dreary yet dreamy on a razor thin edge, undoubtedly indebted to the thunderous basslines that were attached to these heavenly keys. The range of sounds was impressive considering the number of people onstage, with the trio working in the psychedelic proggy types of space rock on the climate-centric “The Air’s on Fire” to the crushing sounds of "Sergeant Politeness.”

While the group stuck mostly to Fantastic Planet, they still played a fair amount of songs across their discography to appease the lifelong fans. The California trio broke out a few highlights from 2021’s Wild Type Droid including “Submarines” and “Headstand,” as well as a couple tracks from their early work Magnified, those being “Frogs” and “Undone.” However, the energy shifted dramatically whenever a song from Fantastic Planet started to make its way into the audience’s ears. The group interspersed the songs throughout the setlist, with a strategic placement of “Smoking Umbrellas” coming towards the beginning of the setlist to warm up the crowd. The excitement reached an apex when the group reached their encore, beginning with Location Lost favorite “The Rising Skyline” and concluding with a one two punch of “The Nurse Who Loved Me” and “Another Space Song.”

Out of all the groups that are stuck around as long as they have since the early grunge alt-rock explosion, Failure is one that has been quite lowkey about their success. While their hiatus in the 2000s may have dampened expectations, it’s clear the group are better than ever before, and with their new fans coming from many walks of life, they aren’t stopping anytime soon. You can stream their great new record Location Lost here.