Pierogies and Space Rock: Failure Launches Crowd Into Orbit at Brooklyn’s Warsaw
As a teen growing up in Alaska, I immersed myself in music. Bands rarely toured that far north, so the radio or a CD borrowed from a friend was how you found something new. Thrash metal and grunge were in constant rotation for me, and somewhere in that mix were songs like “Stuck on You” and “Saturday Saviour” from the California alt-rock band Failure. But I never fully took notice of the band behind the music
Fast forward thirty years, I found myself in Brooklyn at Warsaw, the Polish cultural center turned concert venue, grabbing a plate of fresh pierogies (yes, it’s a thing, and part of the whole experience). Failure was passing through on The Rising Skyline Tour, in support of their 2026 album Location Lost.
The crowd filled the room early for a midweek show, eager for a bit of nostalgia. With shoegaze project quannnic opening, mosh pits and crowdsurfing could wait for another night. This was a night to settle in, shut the world out, and float away to another dimension.
QUANNNIC
quannnic opened the night, heavily backlit by the stage lights. This was my second time seeing them perform, the first being their opening slot for shoegaze pioneers Slowdive. The lighting felt intentional, almost introspective, and fit the heady nature of the music. It requires you to focus and be present in the moment, which was no issue for this Brooklyn crowd. They swayed in place, bobbing their heads as quannnic played through their set.
Maybe it was the mix on the bass guitar or kick drum, but the sound seemed to top out, overwhelming the vocals and the band’s otherwise talented musicianship. Mixing is tough. You have limited time for sound check, and both the sound system and acoustics vary from venue to venue.
FAILURE
A band’s stage presence is everything. Ken Andrews (vocals, guitar), Greg Edwards (bass), and Kellii Scott (drums) didn’t need to be flashy, in fact they barely moving from their places on stage. Among the equipment and stacks, the stage was scattered with bare light bulbs sitting on the ends of poles. Behind the drummer was a simple array of horizontal track lights. In its own way, it was another invitation to just exist in the space and let the music transport you.
Failure opened with “Crash Test Delayed,” the first track on Location Lost, then followed with “Saturday Saviour.” As they made their way through the set, new material also included “The Rising Skyline”, the song featuring Hayley Williams, who has said Failure was the band that made her want to be in a band and play guitar.
While Ms. Williams wasn’t at Warsaw that evening, but the song still came through with a clean, emotional delivery. The song builds and builds, until its carried away in heavy-handed distorted guitars.
You don’t need chaos to have a great show. Sometimes a crowd can just bond over the music, and the energy is still electrifying. Failure’s lyrics are so vivid. You can close your eyes and almost create your own music video in your head, as the words form images drawn from your own life.
Before the show ended, I noticed very young faces at the barricade, in tears and singing along to “Stuck on You.” Seeing a new generation that tied to Failure’s music, it made sense why those early songs from Fantastic Planet stayed locked away in my own memory for so many years.
Failure SETLIST
Warsaw, Brooklyn, New York (10/13/2026)
Crash Test Delayed
Saturday Saviour
Sergeant Politeness
Princess
Macaque
Screen Man
Undone
Counterfeit Sky
A Way Down
Solaris
Smoking Umbrellas
The Nurse Who Loved Me
Another Space Song
The Rising Skyline
Stuck on You
Heliotropic
