Through the years their sound has changed and evolved. They still have roots in punk, hardcore, and goth, but they have become more mainstream in many ways. That isn't to say that they haven't continued to experiment and evolve. When I first heard Sing the Sorrow in 2003 I was a little turned off. I was shocked how different the sound was from the fast-paced punk of just a couple years earlier. I thought the slower melodies and the almost muted guitar tones was sacrilegious. I didn't like it. After I gave it a chance, the album became one of my favorites. They would play four songs off this album this night, not even making the cut are huge songs Leaving Song Part 2 and Girl's Not Gray from this disc. They would also make me happy by bringing out Totalimmortal (only played on less than 15% of the dates this year). Before that, a few notes on the openers.
I love to get to the venue early enough to hear all the bands. I want the full experience. I want to learn about new bands. Frequently, I have been fortunate to hear a lot of good music and to discover bands that would become part of my regular rotation. Unfortunately, this was not one of those nights. The music started with a band called Souvenirs. They were on the young side and they were slow, sleepy, and depressing. I joked with my friends that my pen got confiscated at the door during the pat down because the venue didn't want me to have an instrument to harm myself during their set. The second band was called Nothing. I heard a few good things about them online, but my note to myself during their set was "nothing to see here." Another boring band that didn't connect with the punk, the emo, the goth, or the rock elements of AFI in my opinion. In fact, in over 100 concerts attended, I can't think of a worse combination of openers. I usually get at least one that I like.
Finally, AFI went on and as you can see from the set list below they played a good mix of old and new tracks drawing from 8 different albums. They played songs from 1999-2017 and only three off the latest album. The crowd was chanting "Through our bleeding, we are one" before they took the stage. This is from the opening of the 1999 album Black Sails in the Sunset. I don't know if this influenced any of the song choices during the set, but Davey said how New Jersey has always been a great place for AFI to play. I like to think that we earned that second encore of Totalimmortal. Davey twice during the night came out to sing in the audience, the most notable during that song when he spent a good amount of time being held up by fans and singing from the crowd.
Strength Through Wounding
This Celluloid Dream
So Beneath You
Beautiful Thieves
Malleus Maleficarum
Rabbits Are Roadkill on Rt. 37
The Lost Souls
Aurelia
The Leaving Song
Of Greetings and Goodbyes
Silver and Cold
I Hope You Suffer
The Days of the Phoenix
Snow Cats
Miss Murder
Encore
6 to 8
Paper Airplanes (Makeshift Wings)
Encore 2
Totalimmortal
