AFI have spent a considerable amount of time away from Manchester, but that finally changed as the California crew made their triumphant return in support of new album Silver Bleeds the Black Sun. TR/ST joined as sole support for this near-sellout show.
First up was TR/ST, a two-piece electronic outfit that divided the crowd a bit. Being an electronic act on a rock bill can be an uphill battle, but TR/ST absolutely brought the heat with their brand of synth-driven, borderline-darkwave sound and pounding bass. Their industrial stylings gave off Killing Joke vibes, and their stage presence and energy were on point as Robert Alfons and his touring keyboardist, producer and mixer bounced between a myriad of machines I couldn’t imagine keeping track of.
It was hard to tell where one song ended and the next began, or even to catch the names, but in a live setting it worked beautifully, and it was easy to get lost in their massive, ethereal soundscapes that felt like they just kept getting bigger and bigger. TR/ST come highly recommended for synth fans, and anyone who reckoned they were mismatched with AFI was proven wrong very quickly.
After a bit of a break, AFI made their way to the stage armed with instruments and ready to deliver the heaviness with ‘Strength Through Wounding’, everyone screaming “through our bleeding we are one” before they launched into the legendary ‘Girl’s Not Grey’. Everybody in the audience was singing along as Davey and company bounced around the stage with an inimitable energy.
The set was a cavalcade of fan favourites, including the icy yet warm singalong anthem ‘Love Like Winter’ and the Ramones-style rager ‘Escape From Los Angeles’. Having never listened to many of these tracks, I found it eye-opening to see just how much variety there is across AFI‘s back catalogue. There’s a healthy middle ground between the ’80s darkwave gothic synths of ‘Holy Visions’ and the blistering, hardcore-punk-adjacent riffing of ’17 Crimes’.
Guitarist Jade Puget puts down a brilliant collection of riffs throughout the set and makes a typically repetitive genre feel fresh and innovative, despite some of these songs being 20 years old. The passion from fans ranging from elder millennials to the youngest of Gen Z was inspiring to witness and made the set all the more engaging.
The rhythm section was airtight, with surprisingly intricate bass riffs and infectious grooves coming from Hunter Burgan working in tandem with the pounding, punkish drums of Adam Carson on tracks like ‘NOONEUNDERGROUND’ and ‘The Days of the Phoenix’. There’s a distinct energy here that a band this deep into its career could easily have lost.
Frontman Davey Havok has changed his style over the years but still keeps that androgynous aesthetic, albeit with less makeup and a drastically different hairstyle. His voice bellows through the Academy with ease. Even when his microphone started playing up he barely faltered, and while he may not be Freddie Mercury, he’s certainly no slouch when it comes to delivering powerhouse vocals, like on ‘Holy Visions’.
The main set drew to a close with the iconic bass riff we all remember from Guitar Hero III, ‘Miss Murder’. It’s probably an annoying song for the band to play nowadays, since a handful of casuals only know that one song, but you can tell the majority of the audience wouldn’t care if it was absent. The absolutely ironclad dedication this crowd has to all things AFI proves that a band like this doesn’t need to cruise on the popularity of one song. Instead, they let an airtight back catalogue and a stellar show do the talking.
AFI are certainly an under-appreciated band in this whole wave of 2000s alternative music, and that’s a shame, because this show was the whole package. There were breakneck ragers, sad anthemic songs like ‘Silver and Cold’, and just straight-up bangers like ‘Beautiful Thieves’ with its killer harmonic riffs. If you’re ever in a position to see AFI, make it a high priority, because this band still has a fire inside.
