Review of London Show in Rockzone Magazine

Thanks to Ms. Bitter, one of our readers, we now have a review of the London show from Spanish magazine Rockzone. Here is the full review:

Seven months after the debut of Crash Love, AFI finally returned to Europe to present their eight studio album with a small United Kingdom tour and some extra dates in European soil with the give it a Name and Groezrock. For me it’s inconceivable that they’re unable to do more shows with a record as solid as this one. The honor of opening this show went to The Dear & Departed who almost didn’t make it to London after their van was stopped in Notthingham by the police (apparently, their driver was not insured). Although their frontman Dan Smith (who is also an incredible tattoo artist who works for Kat Von D, famous for her work on L.A.Ink) says that his music is not for anyone, I still think that they should be more popular. Clearly influenced by the post punk British scene and new wave bands like New Order, The Church, The Cure and The Smiths, their music is an oddity in a somewhat boring scene. They have just published their second work, an EP titled Chapters so we had the pleasure to enjoy the beautiful “Tambourine Love”, “It looks like rain”, “matter of time” as well as “Hometown Hero” and “Masquerade”. It was a short but delightful setlist. The next ones were New York hardcore legends Sick of It All. In spite of playing almost in the dark, they destroyed the stage with “Scratch the Surface”, “Built to Last” and “Us Vs.Them”. It was fun for me seeing the faces of some AFI fans who clearly had no idea of Who Sick Of It All were and didn’t even now how to react to their brutality. I felt embarrassed fro them.

And finally the moment we were waiting for. The predominant white color form Decemberunderground tour has left the place to the golden shades of Crash Love. Surprising me they took the stage with” Medicate” instead of “Torch Song” that had been the opening song for their American tour. Anyone who has seen them live knows that Davey Havok, Jade Puget, Adam Carson and Hunter Burgan never disappoint and always include enough songs to satisfy all their fans. But If I’m totally sincere it upset me that they didn’t play more Crash Love song (I would have killed to listen To “Veronica Sawyer Smokes”). What we had was a well-balanced combination of the hits from Sing The Sorrow (“Girls Not Grey”, ”The Leaving Song Part II”, “Dancing Through Sunday”, ”Death of Seasons”) with songs from their last album (“End Transmission”, “I AM Trying Very Hard To Be Here”, “Beautiful Thieves”, “Too Shy Too Scream”), a couple of the audiences favorites (“Days Of The Phoenix”, “Love Like Winter”), some of the old songs like “Love Is A Many Splendored Thing” and the surprise of the night “File 13” that doesn’t get played that often. Davey’s voice sounded better than ever, specially because he doesn’t scream than much anymore, and although he is the only guitarist, Jade makes a good job recreating the sound of the albums. Obviously they didn’t forget “Miss Murder” and “Kill Caustic”, but personally the culminating moments were “On The Arrow” and “The Interview”. A shame that Jade’s mike was so low, because when he sang the last verse in “The Interview” we almost couldn’t hear him (o maybe, it’s that he doesn’t like to sing). From what I’ve heard, there’s not going to be another European tour until the next album. If that’s the case, it really is a shame that, once again, Spain has not the opportunity to live such an unforgettable night like this, which ended brilliantly with “Silver And Cold.”

Ultimate Guitar Posts Glasgow, UK Review

Ultimate Guitar has posted a review of AFI's recent UK show in Glasgow. In the review, the website says:

"Jade Puget, perhaps the most underrated guitarist in modern music, was certainly on form. Using his Gibson LP he pulls off complicated rhythms and chord patterns with ease. His ability to play hardcore punk at pace has never left him, and his guitar tone is to die for; not many guitarists in AFI’s genre pool manage to pull off such a varied number of tones throughout a show, but Jade does: he’s on top of his game whether it be during glisteningly warm Acoustic numbers (On the Arrow) or while incorporating legato and tapping during a would-be shred solo (Dancing Through Sunday)."

View the lengthy review here.

Photos, Videos, and Reviews From European Tour

AFI has just finished a three-show swing in Germany, and they will continue around Europe for a few more headliners and a festival. Below are the remaining overseas dates. For a full list of Crash Love tour dates, visit AFI Tour Central.

Vienna, Austria - 4/20/10
Warsaw, Poland - 4/21/10
Groezrock Festival, Meerhout, Belgium - 4/24/10
Duisberg, Germany - 4/25/10

You can find pictures by OMB member Liebling of the April 14 Hamburg, Germany show here. Feriluce.com has posted a review and an HD video of "Medicate" from the same show. Finally, UltimateGuitar has posted a very lengthy review of the April 5 Nottingham, UK show here.

Universal To Cut CD Prices To $10 or Lower

Billboard is reporting on a new initiative by Universal Music Group to cut CD prices across their entire lineup. Starting in the next quarter and for the rest of 2010, the company will test lower CD prices. Single CDs will have the suggested list prices of $10, $9, $8, $7 and $6. The label plans to release deluxe editions at a higher price point. With Universal the largest music company right now, the move is likely to push prices downwards at the other majors as well. This in turn, if it actually happens, will affect AFI as well as many other artists.

AFI is under contract with a subsidiary of UMG, Interscope Records. You can read the entire article here.

AFI "Swoops In To Save First Half of Bamboozle"

The Orange Country Register, a newspaper in California, has written an article praising AFI for “swooping in to save the first half of the Bamboozle California.” You can read the article here.

The writer, Kelli Fadroski, went on to say that “Frontman Davey Havok emerged strong, exuding confidence that has come from more than a decade of big-venue experience. Lately this group — including drummer Adam Carson, bassist Hunter Burgan and guitarist Jade Puget — has been playing with great gusto, charging through its hefty catalog and bringing life to its newest recordings. AFI is in such sharp form now, in fact, that it’s virtually certain the almost 20-year veterans will shine on their coming tour with Green Day.”

East Bay Express Posts Review of Slim’s Show

East Bay Express has posted a review of the March 25th AFI show at Slim’s in San Francisco, CA here. Here is an excerpt:

“AFI stormed through a fourteen-song set with equal parts effortlessness and raw energy. Though their frequent touring could have easily resulted in a mechanical performance, every band member was lively and engaged the crowd.

Although Havok admitted he “couldn’t find the key” for one song played off the album Very Proud of Ya, the misstep was a footnote in an overall animated and memorable performance, and was most certainly forgiven when he front-flipped onto the flailing hands of concertgoers.”

Shirt from March 25 Slim’s DF Show

Thanks to Horror_Kid we’ve found a picture of a shirt printed specially for the Despair Faction show at Slim’s in San Francisco last Thursday, March 25. You can see the picture here.

Beautiful Thieves 7" limited to 500 pressings

RecordStore.co.uk has put up the Beautiful Thieves 7″ for pre-order with additional information. The 7″ is limited to 500 copies and the b-side is numbered with an etching. You can purchase it here for the time being.

It will be officially released on April 12, 2010. There is no information about a bonus track yet, but we have been told by management that it will contain a bonus track.

A pre-sale occurred earlier this month but sold out within a few hours. Thanks to BrttnyD on the OMB for the find. The picture on this post is the artwork for this release.

UPDATE : Sold Out.

UPDATE : The AFI website has sent out a blast of emails prompting the pre – sale of the Beautiful Thieves 7′. The link given in the e-mail is also RecordStore.co.uk which you can find at the top of the post. The site indicts the vinyl will be back in stock soon.

Buyer Beware: The Lowdown is A Letdown

Dear Readers, AFI: The Lowdown, an unofficial band biography, was released recently and as a heads up to our readers, we would like to inform you that this is a huge letdown. From the fake British-accented man who narrates the band biography to the old interview that was conducted in 2006 and was ripped from an existing video on YouTube, the fifteen dollar price tag is hardly a bargain. Furthermore, the band as well as the band’s management did not authorize the selling of this product. We hope this helps you in your buying decision.

-The AFI News HQ Team

Beautiful Thieves 7" for Preorder, April 12 Release

Last month, we reported that the Beautiful Thieves single would be released on super-limited 7-inch vinyl sometime in April. Now preorders are beginning to pop up online for the single, which will be available for release on April 12.

Click here to preorder from BetterLeisure.com for £1.75 British pounds and click here to buy it on their eBay page. If you buy it there, it will be held until the release date.
Credit goes to Defoni on the message boards for finding this!

New Merch + Update on Official Store

The official AFI Bandmerch store has been updated with a new theme, and has 3 new items for sale.

* Stack Men’s Slim T
* Gold Heart Junior’s T
* Future World Track Jacket

To view a full listing of the items featured in the store go here.

Guitar Signed By Davey Up For Charity Auction

Someone on eBay has put an Ibanez 6-string guitar signed by Davey Havok up for auction. 100% of the proceeds will go to Doctors Without Borders, a group currently helping to aid victims of the Haiti earthquake. Take a look at it here.

Blaqk Audio Shirt Benefiting AlleyCat.org

Thanks to Batman on the Message Boards, we’ve learned that a clothing company called Arctic Ink teamed up with Davey and Jade in late 2009 to create an official Blaqk Audio shirt to benefit a cat rescue charity called Alley Cat Allies.
The shirt costs $12 and can be purchased here.

Commodore Ballroon Review

Rockstarweekly.com has posted a review of the performance at the Commodore Ballroom in Vancouver. The article reads:

“A flash grenade of red stage light explodes across the audience halting the restless pre show chatter on this restless Sunday night. As the stars fade from vision a united noise erupts from the Commodore Ballroom’s spectators as the image of Hunter Burgan…..”

To read the full review go here.

Review of Not So Silent Night by the CA Chronicle

Sgschick14 found a review of Friday night's show at the Oracle Arena for Live 105's Not So Silent Night. Their review of AFI is about a paragraph long.

"The same can't be said of our local boys in AFI. The group was thrilled to be performing a hometown show, and turned up the East Bay pride on many occasions. "Good evening Oakland," vocalist Davey Havok said to the crowd. "We are AFI from here!" Unfortunately the shout-outs to his homies were the sole highlights of Havok's performance, who hammed up his vocals like he was auditioning for "American Idol." His other memorable moment came when he told the crowd what he thought of seeing Vampire Weekend perform live: "I think compared to the birth of Jesus it was way better."
There are some Christians who might take exception to that, but they probably weren't at Oracle on Friday night."

Also from last night, Live 105 has two pictures on their Not So Silent Night page from the interview they did with Adam, Jade, and Davey before the signing.
EDIT: Here is the interview they did. There is no new information, but it's pretty funny. The only thing they really talked about in particular was fashion and how AFI's style has changed.

Denver Post gallery from "Not So Silent Night"

The Denver Post posted a brief review and an amazing gallery of 25 photos. Here is the review, from Joe McCabe:

"Headlining Channel 93.3’s Not So Silent Night, AFI and company brought their blend of punk and modern rock to the stage at Magness Arena on Sunday. Playing to a diverse crowd of teenagers to young adults, Davey Havok led his band through songs from each of their albums. Known for his showmanship, Havok was a mad man on stage, running from side to side, and the crowd ate it up."

St. Louis, MO Photos

Todd Owyoung from iShootshows.com posted some photos of the performance at the St.Louis Pageant along with some of the his notes:

Spastic lighting and huge changes in the dynamic range of the exposures from one minute to the next were the principle obstacles. On top of this, there was a ton of movement by AFI on stage, especially front frontman Davey Havok.

View complete notes and photos Here

AFI at the Verizon Wireless Theater Review

Houston Press has posted a review of the performance of AFI at the Verizon Wireless Theater along with some HQ live shots:
Aftermath isn't one so much for biblical allegories generally, but damn if AFI's Davey Havok didn't remind us of Samson on Saturday night at Verizon Wireless Theater. He proved to us exactly what happens when you sacrifice your locks and your pores to the fashion gods.

View full review HERE and view complete gallery of the performance HERE

Review Of St. Louis Show

Consequence of Sound has posted a review of the St. Louis show.
It says:

The band’s vociferous fanbase, however, was not to be deterred, as they sang along with every word and bounced to many of the band’s songs (both new and old). Though older tracks “6 to 8″ and “Ny-Quil” had the crowd in its greatest frenzy, new songs off Crash Love, the band’s recently released LP, brought a good amount of dancing to the stage and crowd (despite being much weaker sounding tracks in the bands deep catalog). The four-piece’s songs have begun to sound less like dark dreary sorrow and more like the kind of love you’re not supposed to make music about.

Read the full article here.

House Of Blues Review at BCHeights.com

There is a review of the House Of Blues show in today's issue of the BCHeights. A highlight from the review:

"Sunday's underwhelming turnout illustrates more than anything how a band can alienate old fans by continually redefining itself. Crash Love represents another step in the band's neverending creative evolution. Not only is it considerably warmer than the band's previous two albums Decemberunderground and Sing the Sorrow, but it is also more musically complex. The album evokes nostalgia for the band's punk rock past, which is a difficult task since punk songs are typically short, fast, and simplistic."

You can read the full article here. Thanks to Mike for the link!