AFI - Sheffield
Hallam, NMB
The evening
began with my dad taking us to the show by car. One hour of awkwardness awaited
us as we got in. He, as I predicted, made some lame attempts at humour, maily
concerning "punk rock". Needless to say, he wasn't amusing.
When we arrived in Sheffield, after some messing around trying to find the NMB,
we got out and joined the queue. After waiting in the freezing cold (and I cleverly
forgot to bring a coat, damn) for around an hour, we were inside. We took a
look around, it reminded me of my local club at home, pretty small and squashed.
I took a look at the merch area, was amazed at how full it was. After walking
around a little more and watching a bit of the opening band, I decided to get
some merch. I must've waited around 30 minutes to be served, but I got 2 shirts,
so I was happy.
After that, we headed back into the concert area and made our way to the front
of the crowd, sensing the second band were almost finished. Once they went,
on came AFI's roadies to set up, which seemed to go on forever. I was wearing
the 2 shirts I had just bought, on top of the 2 shirts I already had on (one
short sleeve top over a long sleeved one) so I was already pretty hot. After
a while, it was time for AFI to come on. The crowd were chanting their name,
until the stage lights went out.
Suddenly, Jade and Hunter bounded onstage, followed by Adam. The crowd went
insane. The band (minus Davey) started off with Adam playing a fast drumbeat
while Jade and Hunter bounded around omstage like crazy. The crowd went wild
again, and then Davey came on, then havoc (haha) broke out. Davey started off
the chanting (to the uninitiated, it goes 'through our bleeding, we are one')
which got everyone into a frenzy. After Strength Through Wounding, the band
shot into The Prayer Position, which caused shouts of delight upon the opening
riff. Everyone sang along, I barely heard Davey above the crowd, which was cool,
but annoying. After that, Sacrifice Theory was played, which was when it got
really heated.
Davey did some crowdsurfing. Right as the song was playing, the girl next to
me (who, incidentally, had been jabbing my eyes with her 7 inch mohawk all evening)
was beginning to pass out. I helped her, along with some other people. As we
were trying to move her backwards, I felt the whole crowd surge forward and
some hair and in my mouth (...). I looked up to find Davey Havok around 3 centimetres
from me, with everyone around us going seven shades of mental. I ripped some
of Davey's mesh shirt by mistake (I was pretty taken aback to have my favourite
singer appear above me). In the confusion that followed, Davey landed on around
3 or 4 people, including me. As everyone was pushing to reach him, they forced
the people next to me onto the floor. I could feel my knees digging into someone's
side on the floor, and them shouting for help. Note that Davey was even closer
to me at this point, and was actually below me, on top of these people. The
next few moments were a little hazy, all I know is that Davey got out of there
and had to haul myself up on someone else's shoulders, having to drag my body
out from under two people's legs.. not fun, I couldn't stand up on my own. It
was getting quite frantic by then, so Davey went a little easier for a while.
The band then played Over Exposure, which was cool, everyone sang along again.
Then we got Girl's Not Grey, which sounded great live. I was proud to be one
of few people in the crowd to join in with the verse and chorus. Then Ever And
A Day was played, one of my favourites, so that was great.
A Winters Tale passed quite quickly, I'm not the biggest fan of the song. A
Single Second created the most frenzied moshing of the evening, it was great,
and the whole place was singing. This Secret Ninja was a cool surprise, and
Morningstar was great. During the song, as tacky as this sounds, Davey looked
towards me while I (like everyone else) was singing along. He stared at me,
and I stared back, still singing the song, which was cool, it felt like we shared
something in the song, which was cool.
Somewhere in the setlist (I cant remember exactly when), Lower Your Head And
Take It In The Body cropped up, which was great, we were speculating in the
car as to whether AFI would play any of the older stuff. The Despair Factor
was good, everyone joined in one the 'one..big..dark...room' part. The Hanging
Garden was cool too, one of the highlights of the show. Then we got Midnight
Sun, which started pretty weird (I wasn't sure if it was or it wasn't Midnight
Sun until the vocals came in) but it went down well, especially the Baudelaire
part, which sounded cool, seeing Davey kneel at the drumkit to sing.
Then a rousing Days Of The Phoenix was played, which really had us singing again.
Then the band left the stage, and some roadies came on for a minute. Then, of
course, the band came back on to finish off with God Called In Sick Today, one
of the best tracks, and of course, Totalimmortal (which messed up somehow, Hunter's
bass went wrong and when Davey sang the start of the second verse, there was
only him and Adam playing, but it was okay because Davey laughed and they continued
on anyway). They left the stage, I got out of there and had the best Coke I
have ever had in my life.
Setlist:
Strength Through Wounding
The Prayer Position
Sacrifice Theory
Over Exposure
Girl's Not Grey
Ever and a Day
A Winter's Tale
A Single Second
This Secret Ninja
Morningstar
Lower Your Head And Take It In The Body
The Despair Factor
The Hanging Garden
Midnight Sun
Days of the Phoenix
ENCORE:
God Called in Sick Today
Totalimmortal