This is the 16th time I have seen AFI live and they did not disappoint in any way and Touché Amoré was fan-freaking-tastic. Overrall it was an absolutely stellar show.
First off we have Touché Amoré. Not too long ago I put my stake in the ground and called their last album hardcore album of the year and I hold to that even more so after seeing them live. They were amazing from the first note to the last scream. They were so awesome live I couldn’t believe I still had another band coming up. They are also now responsible for the 2nd show I have ever been to where the band played every song I wanted to hear. That’s probably due to the fact that their songs average 1:30 and they played 23-25 songs, so they covered a lot of ground any my chances were good.
Being as it was a Halloween, Touché Amoré came out dressed as food and took the Roseland by storm. The crowd was having an amazing time moshing and lead singer Jeremy Bolm who, dressed was a hot dog in a bun, spent some time mingling with the crowd via a mid song stage dive. The attitude, the feeling, and the presence was everything I love and miss about good hardcore shows and the Portland crowd was an incredibly nice crowd to be a part of. Not a lot of the bully attitudes you run into in a lot of cities I’ve been to shows in.
But, like all good things, their set eventually came to an end and AFI soon took the stage and… It! Was! Awesome! This is show number 16 for me and I still get goosebumps when the lights go out and the crowd starts chanting “Through Our Bleeding We Are One” over and over till the band takes the stage. If you have never seen AFI live you should, they kill it every single time. If you’ve never been to the Roseland it’s a small venue that’s fun to see bands play in. Much smaller than anywhere I have seen AFI play over the last few years and that combination (small venue + them being awesome) seemed to suit the band and the crowd well.
Besides playing the big songs off of their latest album, Burials, they played songs I haven’t heard them play since the Black Sails tour. Kicking off with “Strength Through Wounding” they weaved their way through their catalog playing old classics like “File 13” and “God Called In Sick Today” along with new favorites like “17 Crimes” and “Miss Murder”. The evening even culminated in a cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven” during the encore. Though for this fan boy the biggest treat of the night (besides running into bassist Hunter Burgan at Sizzle Pie after the show) was when the lights went down except for a blue light or two and singer
Davey Havok and guitarist Jade Puget plated “Leaving Song Part 1”. That is a song I have never seen them play live, but have always wanted to.
All in all it was a crowd surfing, crowd walking, night of amazing music and I’m absolutely looking forward to show #17! Wish you all could have been there.
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