After nine years away from the UK, and with their first headline tour here in 16 years, AFI are in Birmingham for a sold-out O2 Institute show. More than three decades in, the Californian quartet still thrive on reinvention, backed by platinum records and a devoted, cult-like following.
Before that, Canadian support TR/ST offer something altogether different. Robert Alfons’ dark electronic project is a considerable shift from AFI’s guitar-driven intensity, but the synth-heavy set is well received by the Birmingham crowd. While I’m not here to review them in any depth, they do make for an interesting choice.
There’s A Fire Inside the Institute tonight, and it arrives with ‘Strength Through Wounding’. The short, ferocious 1999 opener and its chant of “Through our bleeding, we are one!” have the room at full tilt, before ‘Girl’s Not Grey’ sends it into ecstasy. Following with ‘Love Like Winter’, the set has already jumped between three different eras without missing a beat.
While AFI have changed shape repeatedly, the different versions of the band still belong together. Then there’s Davey Havok. From goth prince back in the day, to the more refined and mature figure I last saw at Download Festival in 2017, tonight there is a striking resemblance to Farmer Jim from Brassic. It raises a smile, but Havok remains every inch the frontman: animated, charismatic and commanding throughout.
Latest album ‘Silver Bleeds the Black Sun’ is brought to the fore with ‘Holy Visions’. Darker and more ethereal in tone, the new material remains unmistakably AFI while adding another texture to the performance. The four tracks played tonight carry a noticeably different atmosphere, but sit comfortably alongside the band’s classic and most celebrated songs.
‘Ever and a Day’ jumps forward a decade into the punchier ‘End Transmission’, taken from 2009’s often underrated ‘Crash Love’ album. ’17 Crimes’ and ‘Bleed Black’ keep the pace high, with the audience fully invested. Jade Puget, Hunter Burgan and Adam Carson remain a formidable unit behind Havok, tight and driving, rarely allowing the room to settle. For all the atmosphere surrounding AFI, there’s plenty of physical energy at the heart of the show.
With several generations and subcultures packed together, it’s clear that a band whose constant evolution might easily have fractured its fanbase still commands an appeal as broad as it is devoted. Before ‘The Boy Who Destroyed the World’, Havok admits he would usually be miserable that his voice is “so fucked up”. Tonight, however, he isn’t. “You guys are so wonderful”, he exclaims. Despite the admission, his vocal sounds in fine form, while the moment neatly underlines just how strong that bond with the AFI faithful remains.
The final stretch is particularly strong, with ‘Silver and Cold’ bringing the main set to an end and the whole room together. There’s no great surprise when the band return for ‘The Days of the Phoenix’, nor when ‘Miss Murder’ finally gets its turn. Predictable doesn’t mean unwelcome, and after a set drawn from across the catalogue, the encore delivers exactly the release the crowd has been waiting for.
I leave the Institute struck by how naturally the different versions of AFI still coexist. Dark, dramatic and effortlessly cool after all these years, they move between old and new material with ease and, more than 30 years into a career built on change, remain a seriously impressive live band.
Review & Photography: Steve Johnston
