Sometimes, you become a fan of something, and are forced to wait YEARS for the next instalment. Euphoria season 3? Four years. Chinese Democracy? Fourteen years. Winds of Winter? Fifteen years and counting! And yet, AFI take the lead on all of those, as itâs been SIXTEEN YEARS since their last headline tour in the UK. Sure, they supported Deftones back in 2017, but such a support slot certainly wasnât enough to satiate their rabid fanbase. Suffice to say, the anticipation in the room tonight is at an all-time high, with Manchester Academy full to the brim with longtime AFI fans desperate to see their heroes.
But first, itâs up to support act TR/ST to warm up the crowd with their brand of darkwave synth pop; a feat they don’t quite pull off. Perhaps on a different night, in a different venue, in a different support slot, theyâd have gone down a storm. There’s clearly logic behind bringing them out on tour, as they exist in the same realm as âBlaqk Audioâ (Davey Havok & Jade Pugetâs side project) but when the entire crowd is chomping at the bit for AFI, the Canadian two pieceâs atmospheric broodings don’t quite have what it takes. It means that, unfortunately, the majority of their 30-minute set feels like a wait for AFI, that itself feels that much longer than 30-minutes.
The room is almost vibrating with anticipation by the time AFI do emerge. When the band stride onstage to take up their positions, the crowd are wild, but when frontman Davey Havok strolls onstage, the room erupts into a frenzy. Launching straight into âStrength Through Woundingâ, the Californian four piece hurl themselves around the stage with an energy that belies their age. They waste no time in bestowing two of their most popular songs upon us, in the form of âGirls Not Greyâ and âLove Like Winterâ. Despite this being a tour to promote their most recent album, âSilver Bleeds The Black Sunâ, they only play four songs from it; throwing âHoly Visionsâ into the mix early, before peppering âBehind The Clockâ, âVOIDWARD, I BEND BACKâ and âNooneundergroundâ throughout the rest of their set. Over the course of this hour-long show, they mix some of their most popular hits with deep cuts from some of their oldest albums, and even Daveyâs amazed that the room pops off for âFile 13â from their 1996 album âVery Proud Of Yaâ, as he asks: “Why are you listening to that album? Itâs 30 years old!”
Davey Havok has always been renowned as being one of the most captivating frontmen in his field, and fortunately thatâs something he hasnât lost over the years. Throwing his mic stand around, holding it aloft, it spends more time in the air than it does onstage, eventually resulting in a broken mic and a bleeding hand, the former causing some feedback here and there during the anthemic âI Hope You Sufferâ. Nevertheless, he spits the lyrics over the crowd, dripping with vitriol, as the crowd roars them right back at him. Of course, they end their set with âMiss Murderâ because, quite frankly, how could they not?
They walk offstage, but donât waste any time fooling around before coming back for their encore, âThe Days Of The Phoenixâ, and of course, âSilver & Coldâ, the latter of which brings the biggest singalong of the night. With Davey launching the mic into the air for one final time, he belts out a resounding âOh, my beautiful one,â and the night is over.
AFI have always been a band with a cult-like following, and itâs clear to see how much tonight meant to their fans. After such a long time since their last UK headline tour, it is a shame that their set was only just over an hour. With a huge back catalogue to choose from, they could easily have played for another half-an-hour, if not more. All we can do is hope that itâs not another sixteen years before they return, and when they do, itâs with a longer show packed with just as many bangers as this one.
