Until this night....how big AFI was never quite dawned on me. I knew, but I had never seen. And since this was the first time I would be seeing AFI since 2000's warped tour, plus the additional bonus of seeing Snapcase again, I was very excited about this trip to good ol NYC.

So when I left the show pretty much a full hour early, disapointment would be a understatement.

The day started off fine enough. Me and my friend Jeff have never been to New York City, so we of course missed a few trains and bought some wrong tickets and got completely lost, but with the aid of my friends Mariam and Natalie, we made it to Roseland just fine. From my first impression of the venue, I thought this was gonna be one hell of a show. There was a hallway in the begginning where a merch booth was set up, and after that hallway was a sort of large chamber where the bands played to a enclosed wood floored "pit area". Around this pit area are balconys for people who splurged on more expensive tickets, and a carpeted area with seats beneath that for the tired. All this with a bar on the complete opposite side of the room. It had everything a man needed to party! (well except me, because I dont drink, but when there is a bar there is always fun!) After my observations were complete, Recovers banner was raised and the show kicked of.

I dont know anything about Recover, except that I saw them at Skate and Surf and thought they sounded like every other emo band that screams every once in a while to prove how emo they are not, except they had some really hardcore parts. Unfortunately these hardcore parts sound forced and lack precision, in fact, that sums up how I feel about all there songs. So when I went and stood in the massive merch booth line during there entire set after hearing the first song, you can tell I didnt enjoy them. I have seen worse openers. But thats not saying much.

So, after I heard a odd silence in the air, I realized the noise had stopped, and it was safe to emerge from the merch area without suffering anymore from Recover. When I walked out I saw Snapcases banner rising, and was quick to fight my way to about 5 people from the stage (well 5 people from the barrier in front of that stage, but ya know what I mean) after a unusually long set up time, they kicked into full gear opening with Coagulate, and then blasting into Caboose. The crowd seemed to be in a very confused state during Snapcase. Around me I saw about 20 heads bobbing, and fists pumping in the air, but about 200 people just watching with smiles on there face. I wanted to rock out and sing every word and jump around, but there were so many people on the floor that movement, and sometimes breathing, were impossible. Plus I was stuck on the left side of the stage, so I could barely hear Franks guitar. Now although the crowd seemed to be enjoying it, things turned for the worse when they began playing newer material like New Kata, and Last Word. The head bobbing and fist pumping stop, and the smiles faded form the childrens faces. AND I CANT UNDERSTAND WHY. It seems old fans just wanted to hear Incarnation, and the many many many little girls and boys dont like music that isnt simple to listen to, or they just wanted AFI. But on Snapcases behalf, they did decent...there were quite a few sloppy moments, and they didnt rock as hard as at Skate and Surf, but the main complaint here is the completely lackluster audience who were mostly just standing up front to save a spot for AFI. I dont remember all the songs Snapcase played, but I know they played....

Coagulate, Caboose, Bleeding Orange, Harrison Bergeron, Zombie Prescription, Typecast Modualtor, New Kata, The Final Word, 10 AM, Exile Etiquette, and (in a huge surprise they closed with this song because I never thought they would ever play it live, and it was also the lowest point for the audience who just seemed confused by the noise) A Synthesis of Classic Forms. With that Snapcase ended to some rather solid, if not half hearted applause, and AFI's banner rose to some cheers.

So anyway, like an hour after the banner rose, the band still hadnt started, even though all the sound checks were done, and they had there smoke machines going. Finally the first song off Sing the Sorrow Miseria Canteria or whatever its called started playing and of course the crowd went berserk singing the words. I was disapointed, I wanted to hear Strength through Wounding, but o well, this sufficed. After there intro they began with The Boy that destroyed the world off of All The Hollows EP, and this is when I realized I was not going to have any fun at all. This was by far the most absolutely horrible audience in concert history. Every single girl in the place is trying to get to the front, while the fat ones who did manage to get up there were not letting anyone up, and at the same time kids in the middle kept splitting open the audience to try and make a pit area, only to have both sides of the crowd smash there fresh pit closed again in a violent display of idiocy on both parts. And finally, large macho men decided they needed to touch Daveys vinyl pants too and began forcing there way up front. So basically, every person in the room was trying to force there way up front, but unfortunately, physics tells us that no two bodies of matter can occupy the same space. It also tells us that dickhead kids who only care about themselves and dont realize that it is physically impossible to get to the front ruin shows. At one point, during the thrid song, which I forgot the name of, about 20 people all fell down at once, and rather then getting helped up, a entire squadron of macho guys and tiny girls started to WALK OVER THEM. !?!?!?!?!?!?!!?!??!!?!?! I dragged like 3 people up, and then after almost having my arm broken by some kid in a black flag shirt trying to knock everyone in front of him over so he could touch Davey, I called it quits and escaped fom the audience.

From the very back I watched disgusted as one of my favorite bands rocked out for a audience on kids that probably hadnt heard any of their songs outside of those on "Sing the Sorrow". Its kind of funny actually...AFI's songs are all about being unaccepted, and going against the grain. Well here in front of me was a regular convention of teeny bopper girls and macho jocks all scremaing along to the incredibly peppy Davey Havok. While me and all the other "freak kids" sat in the back and wondered what the hell just happened. I guess I can understand why people hate it when their favorite band gets big now...nonetheless, the audeince sucked.

AFI actually played okay, but form the back you could hear that the drums were too high, and the guitars too fuzzy, but whatever. They had energy, and Jades funny little "Gentleman mod dance" has to be seen. (I cant describe it) Overall a rather solid performance.....I left duting morning star which I think was about halfway through there set, but the songs i heard were....

The Boy Who Destroyed The World, Totalimortal, A Single Second, Girls Not Grey, The Prayer Position, Morning Star, and their was more, but I cant remember. Some more stuff from their new album and one old tune.

In conclusion, this audience sucked out all the fun that might have been had here. I wa sincredibly disapointed by it. Needless to say, I wont be going to see AFI ever again. Snapcase gets a star for trying, and AFI gets half of one for Jades dance.