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.”