Alphablog - C

C is for Concert.

An AFI concert, to be exact. It was easily one of the best shows I've ever been to, and I've been to some pretty good shows if I do say so myself.

Clinton is a huge AFI fan. He is the reason I started listening to them back in 2004 - I was totally just trying to be cool when he said I should listen to them like "oh yeah, totally, they sound great!", coming from the girl who, at the time, listened to almost exclusively soft pop rock (think Snow Patrol, The Killers, Keane, etc). Clinton has pretty diverse taste in music, however, and has opened my eyes to more than one band but by far, his biggest success with me (and perhaps most surprising) has been AFI. I'm definitely not on the same level of fandom as he is, but they are for sure one of my favorite bands now.

They started releasing sort of creepy black and white video snippets and photos over the past few months on social media to get people talking, and then it was announced that their new album, Burials, was to be released on October 22nd. Excited is an understatement. Excited probably works to describe my feelings on this news, but I don't think that my husband has looked forward to something so much in... well, possibly ever. So when I found out that they would be coming through Arizona, I decided to snatch up a couple tickets the second they went available for pre-sale.

The concert was on Sunday, October 20th and the album release buzz coming from everyone at the venue waiting for the show was almost palpable. We stood in line with the rest of the crowd for the sold-out show just itching to get inside. There was even a tiny child there who we got a kick out of. I mean, the kid was probably only about 6 years old so whether or not he should have been there was pretty questionable, but he looked pretty cool in his little patch-covered, punky denim vest.

We got in and milled about for a bit until the first opening act came on. The openers were The Coming and Touche Amore - a lot of people there knew all of the Touche Amore songs, but neither of us had ever heard of them. Marquee Theatre is standing room only and your spot is dependent on how early you get there, how packed the show is, and how aggressive you are. Considering we got there at a decent time, the fact that it was a sold out show, and how completely unaggressive I am in public, we still managed to be standing in a pretty decent spot, about 30 feet back from center stage. A circle pit formed to the left of us, but not near enough to bother us. The closer it got to the main show though, the more people started crowding in and packing tight to get closer to the stage. We decided to move back so that we could see better (Clinton said he wanted to "take it all in") and not be crushed. We wound up almost smack dab in the middle of the place which worked out great. Another circle pit (tangent: I do NOT get moshing. At all. It is dangerous and seems painful and you miss the show?? Why do people do this??) formed right in front of us w/ about 2 people in between, but the security at the show was super on top of things and stayed right there the whole show, holding the perimeter so it didn't get out of hand. It was actually pretty perfect for us because there was an opening that we ended up being able to see right past. Serendipity is not just a John Cusak movie, my friends.

AFI came out, and the place trembled with excitement. Clinton yelled so loud I thought he was going to burst a blood vessel. Davey Havok greeted the crowd, and thanked the openers.The air was electri, and suddenly, the opening chords of The Leaving Song Pt. II ripped through the air and the crowd burst to life.

Don't waste your touch, you won't feel anything
Or were you sent to save me?

A few songs in they played their first single from the Burials, I Hope You Suffer.
EVERY person there sang it, which just goes to show how desperate the fan base has been for new material. It was awesome.

Seriously, every single thing about the show was spectacular. They sounded amazing. It is the absolute worst when you go to a show and it sounds nothing like the record, or they use a backup track the entire time - the whole band was spot on but seriously, I've got to give it to Davey - that dude can sing his damn face off while jumping and dancing all over the whole place. Maybe there's something to being a straight edge vegan...

I got a little sad at one point in the concert when they played The Leaving Song because I had a really terrible time for a few months in 2005 and listened to that album a lot, particularly that song - and even though none of that stuff is an issue anymore, hearing that song just brought me back to the way that I used to feel. That's the awesome thing about music though, it's so powerful - you may not want to remember those things but it's a visceral reaction. I'm not complaining because it happens on the opposite end where I hear songs that make me unreasonably happy as well.

That small bit aside, I had a fantastic time. The crowd was rowdy but we were in a good spot, the band sounded stunning, the setlist was really perfect (no stuff nobody has ever heard), my darling husband was insanely happy (He said it was the the second best day of his life), they gave us two encores, and we got to witness Davey prove his Total Fucking Rockstar status when he STOOD on the crowd and sang his beautiful heart out.

It was a show totally worth staying out past midnight for on a Sunday night - I wouldn't change a single thing.