AFI/Snapcase/Recover

live in New York City (2003)

Brian Shultz

Living on the Island, going to shows in the city can be a real bitch, especially on school nights. But this is the life of a student of the great scholastic system. Plus, I couldn't pass up the chance to see AFI for the first time.

Recover took the stage to open up it for the swarming crowd. The band's style of punk/emo/notsurewhatthefucktocallit is like some strange hybrid of The Early November if they decided to attempt a harder genre with some definite classic rock overtones in it. They mostly pleased the crowd with their short set; the main highlight from the dual vocalists and co. was "Inhale Water," the closer from Ceci n'est pas recover.

Replacing Hot Water Music (to who, my somewhat dismay, didn't play for reasons I was unaware of) was Snapcase, who I'm not into in any way yet was seeing them for the second time in two weeks. The hardcore veterans with the mouse-on-crack vocals seemed to receive a mixed crowd reaction, as they played nearly (if not THE) the same exact set as the one they played at the Finch show at the Vanderbilt in Plainview.

As "Miseria Cantare" filled the speakers, Davey came onto the stage decked in a loose dress shirt and tie. Upon finish, AFI kicked it into high gear right into "The Lost Souls." Expected but more than satisfied, AFI proceeded to play mostly stuff off Art of Drowning and Sing the Sorrow, but thankfully managed to include plenty of tunes for old-school fans. At one point, they recalled a 1996 show with Snapcase and played "Perfect Fit" as a tribute. "Totalimmortal" made the crowd go apeshit as did every other chant-along. As that period between set (which anthemicly closed with "Morningstar") and encore went by, the crowd exclaimed on a loop "Through our bleeding/We are one!" which was impassioned as you might imagine. The band took the stage back to run over "Death of Season" (disco beats included) before they injected the final dose on "god Called in Sick Today."

The person who had the fortunateity of singing into the mic right at Davey's face at one point had a look of orgasmic delight when the show finally ended ("DID YOU SEE THAT?! DID YOU SEE THAT?!"). The expression on his face likely reflected that of the whole crowd.