Live Review: Senser – Academy 3, Manchester
13th June 2026
Support: Collapsed Lung
Words: Matthew Williams
A mere eight months after seeing the same two bands put on a storming gig at The Castle & Falcon in Birmingham, I was back to watch their first gig in Manchester for many years. Yes, it might seem odd going again, watching near identical set lists, but it’s a step back in time and another chance to witness two bands who were a big part of my late teens/early 20’s, plus, they are both bloody great live!!!
Arriving promptly on stage at 8pm, DJ Anthony Chapman gets the night going dropping a few beats before the bass line emerges and Collapsed Lung start with “Punchline”. “I’ve just got back from a holiday in the Algarve” says the sun-tanned frontman Jim Burke, “but I wasn’t golfing” as they start “Golf People” and the party feel washes across the crowd. The scratching from Chapman is so good here before they “go old school” and the marvellous “Maclife” rings out. Their combo of dual vocals is fun to watch, and the rhythm section are on fire tonight, as they genuinely seem to be enjoying themselves.
After hunting out all the people in check shirts in the crowd, they play “Down with the Plaid Fad” as the prominent bass sound roars out. “We haven’t played this one in a while and only decided to play this afternoon” says Burke much to the amusement on bassist Steve Harcourt’s face, as they go into “DIS Mix” which was excellent, and we even got a new scratch that Chapman found midway through, as he informed us afterwards.
It’s not often you get a hip hop band rapping about mid century public architecture, but Collapsed Lung aren’t an ordinary hip hop band so “Red Brick Municipal Buildings” is played and flows effortlessly, with a great guitar solo to boot. They tease us with “time to play our 1996 hit single now” ahead of “London Tonight” and the brilliant “Let’s Get Jobs”, with the crowd singing along. “This is about grassroots football, so let’s forget about FIFA and the World Cup” as they begin “Eat My Goal” and the crowd lap it up. “Thank you for coming out, this last song sums up what this means to us right now” as they finish with the brilliant “New Song, Old Band”.
The room fills up further as the musical side of the Senser walk onto stage, with drummer John Morgan and DJ Alan “Deckwrecka” Gold starting off proceedings before vocalists Kerstin Haugh and Heitham Al-Sayed appear to huge applause and kick off with “Devoid”. Their dual vocals work together seamlessly and when the raucous “Resistance Now” kicks in the crowd respond with heads and bodies moving all over the venue. The trippy start to “States of Mind” sees Haugh hit those high notes as the place erupts to the venomous lyrics and timeless riff from guitarist Nick Michealson. It really is 1994 all over again!!
“It’s been a while Manchester” says a beaming Heitham before “So Refined” and we are encouraged to “make some noise for our DJ” as Deckwrecka drops some hip-hop sounds for us to enjoy ahead of “Switch”, which still sounds as awesome as ever. Sprinkled amongst the classic tracks from “Stacked Up”, they play new songs from last years “Sonic Dissidence” with “Full Body Rebellion” and the utterly mental “Harbinger” which sees the rhythm section working overtime as the crowd ramp up their energy.
Haugh takes centre stage and full control during “Adrenalin” one of two songs they played which I’d never heard live before, the other being “Formula Milk”, and these bookended the sublime craziness of “No Comply” with Heitham calling out Restore & Reform as “fascism has now become mainstream, fuck all that”. It’s a song that is so powerful, with a message that will resonate with everyone in the room, however young or old and a reminder that Senser are amongst the best in the business at what they do.
The dancier element of their music shines through on “Optimus” and Heitham thanks us for being here before introducing “Ryot Pump” a song about the police state we currently live in, and it goes off, as the riff and scratches hit hard. With moody red lights filling the stage, the rhythmic “2,3 Clear” bursts out, and as the crowd chant the bands name, they begin a triumvirate of songs which are simply breathtaking, kicking off with “Age of Panic”.
It goes off across the venue, bodies flailing to the huge riffs and mighty drums, punctured by the slow mid part, as they raise the temperature further. It’s mental, and they continue with Public Enemy’s “Channel Zero” a staple of their set, with Deckwrecka on fine form as Heitham adds a bit of Black Sabbath into the lyrical mix. It’s all set up for the now familiar finale, the mammoth chaos that is “Eject” a song that hits as hard now as it did when it was released. The pit is now chaotic with the whole room moving and singing along to a song which has stood the test of time, and the band go from strength to strength.
