Sense and sensibility
Life is full of contrasts and there can’t be a much bigger one than the crowd Senser got at Hellfire Fest last November and the crowd they get here, at the NEC they played to twenty people, here it’s about two thousand! The Pepsi Max tent is almost full for Senser’s first performance at Download and it’s quite a sight to see when they give the band a huge reception as they take the stage. To describe them as metal riffs with rap style vocals makes them sound terribly dated but they certainly don’t come across as that, nobody else really ever did it quite like Senser and they still sound fresh.
Right from the start they get heads bobbing with ‘Resistance Now’, the newer material already firmly entrenched in the setlist and none of it sounding out of place. It’s moments like these that show just how much Senser are enjoying the current resurgence in their fortunes, the delight evident on their faces as each song get the same response. They only get time for seven songs today but vocalists Kirsten and Heitham make the most of them, both working the stage and crowd well.
Guitarist Nick Michaelson doesn’t move much but he provides a solid stream of great riffs that holds everything together. The guitar sound isn’t brilliant though and some of the definition is lost but it’s not enough to put a dampener on what is turning out to be a fantastic debut show here. Recent single ‘End of the World Show’, ‘No Comply’ and ‘2, 3 Check’ all lead up to the familiar but never dull finale. When ‘Age of Panic’ kicks in practically every head in the tent starts bobbing and no matter how many times you hear it, the song always retains the bite, aggression and energy that it always did. What else would they finish with but ‘Eject’? The crowd singing along and putting the seal on a great performance and surely not their last at Download.