Live Review: Senser - Castle & Falcon, Birmingham
24th October 2025
Support: Collapsed Lung
Words: Matthew Williams
I don’t often venture down to Birmingham for gigs, but this was an exceptional case, as it was to see one of my all-time favourite bands, Senser. Having emerged with a brilliant new track earlier in the year, the expectation was high, as from the first time I saw them at The Boardwalk in Manchester in 1993, they were always one of the best live acts around.
Some 32 years later, I wanted to see how the new music blended with old classic tracks, and they had brought along another 90’s favourite as support, Collapsed Lung. I hadn’t seen the hip hop/rap/rockers since Reading 1996, but they soon hit their stride with “Punchline”. With Jim Burke at the front, he tells people “Don’t be shy” and beckons them forward. Tonight, very much has a party vibe, with most of the audience over 40 years of age, reliving their past glories.
“Let’s do an old one” as they play “Lungs Collapse” and they sound good, with heads bopping and people dancing. “Anyone going on a nice holiday this year?” asks co-vocalist and DJ Anthony Chapman, “this goes out to you Golf People” and it skips along exquisitely. They go back to their first album for the delightful “Maclife” as the dual vocals combine well and the song gets more reaction from the crowd.
With “Plaid Fad” up next, they follow this was a song that “every hip hop act has written about at some time, as it’s all about mid-century public architecture” which made me chuckle, and “Red Brick” was another great addition to the set. They thanked Jake on drums, as he’d only had 1 rehearsal with the band, as Chapman revealed he was his son!!! “Time to play our hit record” joked the mic’d up duo, teasing the masses with “London Tonight” followed by “Let’s get Jobs” which was dedicated to “everyone who has to work tomorrow”.
“Ok, ok, how about we play a really deep cut” quips a smiling and very happy looking Burke, and then they brake out the classic 1996 hit, “Eat My Goal”. It was superb to hear this song again, and the crowd bounced and jumped in unison. “Thanks to everyone for coming down tonight, we’ve got one more left, this is called New Song, Old Band” and ended what was a quite supreme set from the band.
With their recently released album, “Sonic Dissidence” Senser have re-emerged at a time when their music is still relevant and poised to continue where they left off. It was great to see Kirsten Haigh and Heitham Al-Sayed at the front, beaming smiles and full of energy, with their voices complimenting each other in perfect harmony.
There’s a big drum intro as the band enter the stage with Alan “Deckwrecka” Gold doing a splendid job on the decks. Huge cheers erupt as they start with “Devoid” followed by the heavier “Resistance Now” which sees the crowd getting hyped and a pit forming. The vocal intro from Haigh on “State of Mind” sees her effortlessly hitting those high notes, before the song explodes into life and the crowd match their energy by going wild. The riff from Nick Michaelson is timeless and everyone inside the venue is as one.
With red backing lights ushering in some decent scratch work, “So Refined” sees the vocal work dominate and Haigh take charge. Another old classic is next, “Switch” as the crowd ramps up their energy and sing all the words back at the band, with big smiles on the duo’s faces. They don’t say much in between songs, but Haigh starts with “we’ve got some new songs” before Al-Sayed backs this up by saying “thank you for being here tonight, it’s been a while.
They dive into their new music, with the fast drum intro kicking off “Harbringer” before “Full Body Rebellion” with both songs proving that they haven’t lost any of that power, rhythm and melody that they were known for. They interject with a further two old classic songs with Al-Hayed introducing “No Comply” with the words “Fascism is pretty much mainstream now, resist the flag waving lunatics” as absolute chaos ensues in the crowd, ahead of the mood changing trance like song “The Key”.
We are treated to two more new songs, the funkier “Optimus” and the raucous “Ryot Pump” as Al-Sayed thanks the crowd for “being with us”. They are clearly loving being on stage again, and these new songs, mixed with their older hits, allows them to pace their set exceptionally well and leads to one hell of gig. “2 3 Clear” flows well, before we get the madness that is “Age of Panic” which sounds out of this world and gets the crowd going crazier than before.
They disappear off stage for a few moments and return as the sold-out venue chants “Senser, Senser, Senser” repeatedly. They re-emerge with their cover of Public Enemy’s “Channel Zero” incorporating some Black Sabbath riffs, before raising the roof with the exceptional “Eject”, which sees unrivalled bedlam and is still as potent a song now as it was back then, proving that Senser are back, and back with a bang!!!!!
