Thursday, October 1, 2009

A Night With AFI at The Roxy: Alex's Review

One of our writers, Alex, was lucky enough to get a ticket to AFI's record release show at The Roxy on September 29. He wrote up a nice review:

The atmosphere at the Roxy was incredible. There were no barricades and no security during the show. It felt like we were family, singing ‘woahs’ and ‘heys’ together as one. Stage dives were met with smiles and fan interaction was at an all time high, as Davey walked, somersaulted, and shared the mic.

Opening up with Torch Song took everyone by surprise. Hearing the first echoes of it, the crowd went silent. As the guitar riff was played everyone got over the shock of a new song being played, and Torch Song was met by ‘Anythings’ and ‘Dears.’ I didn’t think Torch Song would serve as an opener but I was completely wrong. It captures the energy and feelings of past AFI opening songs.


(That's less than a third of the review. Click here to read in full!)



After Girl’s not Grey was over, Jade played the starting notes to Beautiful Thieves. My favorite part on this song was definitely the bridge. Davey directing us, everyone in the crowd yelled ‘Woahs’ from the top of their lungs. This is a great song that everyone can participate on.

The performance of Kill Caustic blew my mind. Half way through the song Davey did a graceful somersault into the crowd. Trying to find a way to him, everyone wanted a piece of the action. As Davey was getting pulled back onstage by Smith, he looked back and shook his head, “No”. He stayed up, carried by the crowd for the entire bridge of the song. Simply Amazing.

After Davey’s voice echoed the last, “Oh my beautiful one” of Silver and Cold, he said a few words and the snare started for, Hearts Frozen Solid. Although 30 seconds long, the song packed a punch.

End Transmission was next. Davey jumped offstage and spent a good portion of the song, on a ledge singing to all his friends. This song was beautiful live; I can’t wait for you guys to hear it.

We were treated with Death of Seasons next. This song will never lose its power. Slowing things down, Just Like Heaven was a treat to watch.

The set list consisted of new songs, singles, and rarities. One of these rare songs was ‘Nyquil.’ Davey looked to the back of The Roxy and invited Geoff and Nick 13 to join them for this song. Davey, Geoff, and Nick owned the stage like we were back in 1994. The crowd went nuts, and I loved every minute of it.

Love Like Winter ended and Medicate began. This was an absolute joy to watch. The most exciting part was the bridge, crowd in unison. The song sounded really good live, AFI was right on the money.

6 to 8 was one of the most emotional songs of the night. The band and the crowd were feeding energy towards each other, showing once more, why AFI shows are so special.

Knowing Miss Murder was going to be the final song, the crowd let themselves go. The room exploded with energy. Every single person at The Roxy let their voice be heard.

“Thank you, thank you very much every one. Thank you for joining us. We hope to be back as soon as we possibly can, much Love.”

After AFI left the stage, the lights came back on, and everyone was in a very exciting mood, hugging cheering and talking all throughout the Roxy. The experience turned strangers into friends, and brought friends closer. I will never forget this show, and the experience I shared with others.

AFI is back, and they are better than ever.

8 comments:

  1. Aww.I wish I was thereSounded amazing

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  2. But why did you put a link to the full thing if it just leads back here?

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  3. Aw, awesome. Thanks Alex! :D

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  4. The link to the full thing leads to the post page, which contains the full review. I used a piece of HTML to do that. It's just not space efficient to put the entire review on the homepage.

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  5. I posted this earlier, but did anyone notice that Dave screwed up one of the verses in End Transmission (he repeated the line "with the lights out and the night inside") while on the railing? I was lucky to attend with Dave's bro and we got to hang out with them backstage/ up stairs after the show. He was with his buds Nils, Ben Grey of Scarlet Grey, his gf, and a few others that I didn't know. We were only up for about 10 minutes, but he was definitely excited to get the tour rolling. He said he wished he could have played I am Trying very Hard to be here... since I was wearing a custom tshirt saying FLASH FLASH CAR CRASH. Good times over all.

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  6. Yeah Nick, I actually did notice he screwed that up... because I knew the "broken radio" line wasn't supposed to be said twice... Whatever, it's like the second time he's performed it live. And I was waiting for "IATVHTBH"... it will be at future shows... as will "It Was Mine", "Darling...", "Cold Hands", and "Sacrilege"... hopefully.

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  7. Actually I'm pretty sure that's the first time they ever performed ET, and it sounded so good regardless of the minor mistake.

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  8. They played End Transmission in Japan, so I heard.And thanks for posting Alex, glad I could help you with this! :D

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