A Fire Inside (commonly known as AFI) have been around since 1991 and have sold more albums than any other punk band in history. They now have a much softer and more materialized sound, but still have a bit of fire inside left in them (ha ha, see what I did there).The Sound Academy's 3000 capacity space wasn't packed but it was definitely not empty. With AFI's reputation of being an "emo" band for the last few years, I was expecting a mob of emo kids in black and heavy duty eyeliner under the age of 16. Although there was a fair share of them, there were a lot of guys and girls in their mid to late 20s who have probably been listening to AFI before all the emo kids were even born.
Gallows, the British punk band of the year with a brutal live act, was the support for this tour. If it wasn't for Gallows, the crowd would most likely be a few hundred people short, considering that Gallows is a raw intense punk band. And then there's AFI, which is why it's sort of odd that the two bands were touring together. A regular Gallows show consists of a a very wide circle pit with their raging ginger of a lead singer, Frank Carter in middle of the pit, shirtless, screaming and moshing with the fans.
This night, however, he was a little more chilled, as he was wearing a hoodie and a vest and wasn't running around too much; but there was a human pyramid with 10 dudes including Frank. There were people who know the lyrics and singing along with him, but the Gallows fans were overpowered by the bored and slightly frightened AFI fans, which messed with the vibe and caused Frank to leave before the last song was even finished. Gallows are coming back to Canada in March, opening for the highly anticipated Billy Talent tour with Alexisonfire and Against Me!
AFI may be viewed as "sellouts" in the punk society for going into mainstream emo rock, but they still have a punk edge to them that they unleash during their live shows. They got on stage with a white suit-wearing Davey Havok, and played Torch Song off their new album Crash Love. Havok sang with a passion and shared that passion with the entire audience, looking straight down and making eye contact the entire time while running around the stage.
Havok wasn't the only one making the whole show, the entire band brought it. The guitarist and bassist were moving around the stage the whole time as well, connecting with audience and their band mates. About a quarter into the show, the band treated the crowd to some old school AFI by playing Triple Zero, from their third LP, Shut Your Mouth and Open Your Eyes, and dedicated it to Damian, the lead singer of the Polaris Prize 2009 winning band, Fucked Up (who was watching from side stage).
A little later they played another one of their old school songs from their hardcore days, This Secret Ninja. They played 6 songs off their new record, Crash Love, which is their poppiest record to date, although it's still a well done record. The final song of the primary set was the synth pop anthem Love Like Winter, from their previous record Decemberunderground.
You could hear the crowd singing for the whole show, but when they played love like winter, the crowd just completely overpowered the band, and made a sort of bad song sound really cool. AFI had fantastic energy and put on a show that almost anyone who listens to punk could enjoy.
link to the setlist: http://www.setlist.fm/setlist/afi/2009/sound-academy-toronto-on-canada-23d7389f.html
