Once upon a time (I think maybe around
2007 or so) someone at a party thought I'd like AFI. I checked out
Decemberunderground from the library, latched onto a few songs
for awhile, then quit listening altogether. Fast forward to last
spring when I decided to listen through the whole album again (I'd
ripped the CD onto my computer the first time I'd checked it out, of
course). And again. And again. And again. I think you can figure out
where that lead. Then once I got back from Germany, I happened to
find out that AFI is releasing a new album for the first time in four
years. And they're touring. And they'd be starting that tour in my
home city. And as a nice little bonus, they were playing at
one of my favorite venues (said venue is also located pretty much
right next to my university for extra convenience).
I bought my tickets as soon as I could.
This was my first time seeing AFI, and
I thought I'd check out the front of the venue a half hour before the
doors open. Then I was on campus earlier than expected and thought
I'd get some homework done first, so I got there a little later than
4:30. There was maybe a twenty-foot line, but I was hungry, so I got
pizza first and got in line around a quarter to five. In spite of all
this dawdling, I wound up in the second row, which was super fucking
lucky for me since, as I learned much later, the Varsity apparently
doesn't let people line up until an hour or two before a show, which
I'm guessing was the reason for the shortness of the line (or at
least, going off some online discussion I found after the event).
AFI is one of the most energetic bands
I've ever seen live. This might not mean much when one takes into
account that I'm not usually a fan of hardcore or anything else as
heavy as a lot of their material, but it anyway. The way everyone in
the band not bound to a stool runs around on stage and jumps off
things and stuff was really endearing and fun to watch. I also
enjoyed the audience, which was not only super energetic but also
seemed uncommonly friendly (not sure if this is general to AFI fans
all over, or a combination of the band and the location, or just the
result of the people I happened to wind up standing near at that
particular show). The only show I can recall going to that was as
strikingly energetic was the first time I saw Lykke Li, although her
energy is very different from AFI's (it came more from her as an
individual--I recall my first impression of her being that she was
"super hyper". She was energetic in a chatty, bouncy way
while AFI and Davey in particular are energetic in a
running-around-and-being-super-loud-and-eliciting-a-corresponding-audience-response
kind of way. In fact, they're so different that I almost wonder if
the connection in my brain is coming more from also having seen Lykke
Li at the Varsity.)
I suspect I would've been able to hear
Davey very clearly (unlike other concerts I've been to where the
vocalists get covered up by the guitars) if the audience hadn't been
singing along so loud with every song, but there was something
exhilirating about seeing and hearing how much these people really
love this band, so it didn't bother me as much as it normally
would've. What I did hear above the crowd (bits of the vocals and
pretty much all of the instrumentals) was extremely clean and
together, which was especially impressive when taking into
consideration all the running around that was going on. The set list
included a wide range of older and newer material and even their
version of "Just Like Heaven", which I've listened to
repeatedly on Youtube and never expected to get to hear live, so that
was a fucking amazing surprise.
I feel like I'm starting to do a lot of
stating the obvious instead of personal impressions so I'll quit
here. At any rate, I will not be missing any more AFI concerts
occurring in the same city as me 8D.
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