Rise Against, Senses Fail, Mercy Music Live From Zappos! Theater in Las Vegas, July 15th, 2022

Las Vegas, NV (July 15th, 2022) - Making their second stop in Las Vegas within the span of a year, Rise Against kicked off their 2022 summer tour by blowing the roof off of the Zappos Theater at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas on Friday night. Currently promoting their album Nowhere Generation (2021) and the follow-up EP “Nowhere Generation II” (2022), the band are joined by The Used and Senses Fail.

Opening this show however were Las Vegas locals, Mercy Music. I had never heard this band until seeing them at this show, and they were the perfect band to get the crowd going for the night. Ripping through a 30 minute set, the band saw the crowd nearly double in size as anticipation grew for the following bands.

Up next were NJ post-hardcore greats, Senses Fail. Now, I love this band. I’ve seen them countless times in clubs and at the Vans Warped Tour, but their set left something to be desired. They lacked the energy they normally have, and the sound/mix wasn’t great.

Front man Buddy Nielsen was stagnant through most of the set and his mic was hardly audible. Their set was filled with hits, including crowd favorites “Lady in a Blue Dress”, “Can’t Be Saved” and “Calling All Cars.” The band is out promoting their newly released album, Hell Is In Your Head (2022).

Unfortunately, The Used couldn’t make the opening date for the tour, so up next was the headlining act, Rise Against. Hailing from Chicago, this politically/socially charged band never put on a bad show and are well on their way to becoming punk legends. Fresh off of a European festival tour, the band played a 90-minute, discography spanning setlist, including a personal favorite, “Survive”.

Rise Against is my favorite band, I have their logo tattooed on my leg. They have made punk/hardcore accessible for 20+ years. They have helped me form my own political/social opinions and have opened my eyes to so many wonderful things. This is my 9th or 10th time seeing them, and my second time seeing them this year. The last 2-3 years have given this band a breath of fresh air as they sounded as good as they did when I first saw them 15 years ago.

Lastly, I’ll leave you with an excerpt from a mid-set speech by front man Tim McIlrath;

“The word revolution gets thrown a lot nowadays, and I’m not the person to tell you what is or isn’t a revolution. But I can tell you this; There is no racism in revolution. There is no sexism in revolution. There is no homophobia in revolution. There is no xenophobia or nationalism in revolution. If you find yourself under the umbrella of something calling itself a revolution and if one or more of those elements are present, you are in the wrong fucking revolution.”

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