The first time I saw (or heard) AFI was on April Fool's Day 1997 and I HATED them. Being "Mr. Serious Hardcore Guy" at the time, their goofy skatepunk totally missed the mark with me. Being 23 then, I wrote them off as slop for 14-year-olds, entry level garbage. They landed on my radar two years later when I saw an ad for Black Sails in the Sunset and thought, "this is no different!"
The offending ad
Fast forward to the Summer of 2000. The girl I was dating at the time and I were given free warped tour passes and when we looked at the board during a lull in the line up, I said "Hey, let's go make fun of AFI!" we walked over to the stage they were slated to play on, and they came out and blew us away. I CANNOT express how good they were. I became an instant fan. They mentioned that they weren't even supposed to play that day but asked to be added as they hadn't played buffalo is so long and had gotten many letters requesting that they do. I'm glad they did. At a merch table I got a free sampler cassette with some garbage Vandals song and the enticing Sacrifice Theory for the upcoming record AFI record, The Art of Drowning. I was smitten; it immediately changed how I wrote songs for my band at the time, The Control. I soon owned Black sails in the Sunset, All Hallow's and Art of Drowning. This stuff was a far cry from the band I saw in 1997 and right in my wheelhouse: Spooky Melodic Hardcore.
The girl I was dating on that fateful Warped Tour Day eventually broke up (after seeing AFI another time in 2001) and my first wife and I started dating. Thankfully, she was already into AFI and together we went to the BEST AFI gig I ever saw January 1/29/03. Sing the Sorrow leaked a few weeks later and at first, we were taken aback, she even joked "Did they lose a bet or something?" Within a week I couldn't stop listening to it. We saw them 3 more times in 2003.
AFI at the Opera House 1/29/03 (shot with a potato)
AFI at the Opera House 1/29/03 (shot with a potato)
AFI continued to be an influence on me, my next band Dead Hearts- every record had to have the huge intro ala AFI. When we were in the studio recording our most popular record Bitter Verses, we stopped at a record store on the way to the studio (6/6/06) to grab the CD for DECEMBERUNDERGROUND and Derek, Tom and I were like "uhhhhhh?" it was just OK at best. I like songs but over all that record falls so flat for me. I saw them in Toronto two weeks later and everything was white- their clothes, the back drops, the fucking tree they had on stage. WHITE. I was bummed. They were good but some of the songs weren't. Crash love followed up December... and I stood outside their show handing out flyers because aside from two songs, the record REALLY sucked and the band looked like Maroon Five. Burials followed- I like that one mostly and I took my son to see AFI when he had just turned 3 (he starts middle school soon). I firmly like the Missing Man ep. But really, it's been slim pickings since 2003.
My son at his first gig- AFI 2018
The author at the 20th STS show 2023
I did have a BLAST at the 20th anniversary of Sing the Sorrow in LA 3 years ago and both other times I've seen them in 2022 and 2025. Each time they played a few classics I hadn't seen and are still a great live band, it's just not the same. I don't like the last two albums at all and although I respect them as artists wanting to continue to grow, the stuff they write now isn't what I look to them for. Plus, they were VERY GOOD at writing the songs the wrote from 1999-2003 and fairly mediocre at writing the kind of stuff that came after. They were so locked in, but now the freeway has so many exits, they never quite get to the destination. Last time I saw them, they did do Malleus Maleficarum, so perhaps all is forgiven. As a matter of fact, Black Sails in the Sunset turned 27 today!
Anyway, on to the list of every AFI song I've seen performed live:
Answer That and Stay Fashionable:
Half-Empty Bottle
Brownie Bottom Sundae
I Wanna Get a Mohawk (But Mom Won't Let Me Get One)
So, something I've done for a while is keep a list of live songs I've seen from some of my favorite bands. I never really did this for the hardcore bands I've seen, as the vast majority of them, I saw while they were playing their material what is now (or even, then) considered classic. Also, those bands were so accessible, that they just reside in a different place in my mind than the subject of this post (another one) about Danzig.
I first saw Danzig in the 1990's (as documented elsewhere in this blog) for a current total of 13 times, which does not include the two great "Original" Misfits gigs or the (EXCELLENT) Samhain reunion in 1999. There was a (technically) 12-year dry spell from November 2010 (the 11th 'Zig gig) until May 2022(#12), though in that time, I saw those aforementioned Misfits gigs. Also, I had Tickets to a show in Sept 2017 at the Warfield, but it got moved due to illness to the same night as another gig (L7) and, as I had only seen L7 in 1992 once, I chose that. I should also mention that the L7 gig was over early and I hopped in my car and sped over to the Warfield, only to spent 25-30 minutes looking for parking and another 15 or so walking to the venue, just to arrive as the doors opened and the crowd was streaming out, thus missing my only chance to see the song Godless live. Bummer summer- Though excellent gigs in 2022 and 2025 with a few songs I'd never seen more than made up for that. I've included the time's Danzig did Samhain or Misfits songs
I moved from Buffalo, NY to California a little over a decade ago and up until September 2023, I had only been back to visit on one occasion: to celebrate my mother’s 65th birthday and to travel to Philly for the Alone in a Crowd reunion. A text message in early August 2023 from my mother, explaining that my father had been suffering from a cold that he couldn’t shake, and had gone to the doctor to find out he had stage 4 pancreatic cancer that had metastasized. His “cold” was, in fact, legions throughout his lungs that were hindering his breathing. It was a devastating diagnosis. A death sentence. My kids and I were on a plane to NY a few weeks later. It was a nice visit, but I avoided dealing with it, filling my time with visiting friends and taking the kids on site seeing outings to Niagara Falls and the like. But aside from massive coughing fits, my father looked, talked and acted like he always had. That was soon to change.
My dad jumping in the early 70's
By the holidays, he had been in and out of the hospital several times, with an extended stay into the new year. He was doing Chemo, but the doctors said that removal of any tumors was not viable. He was sent home in January, and I got seriously freaked out talking to him via Facetime, he looked like death warmed over and could barely get more than two sentences out, gasping for breath. I was on a plane again a week later.
Right before I left for the airport
This visit was different, I spent nearly every moment with my father, talking and watching movies in his living room, where he expressed his disappointment that July 2023 was the last gig he’d ever play with his band; an outdoor show that got rained out during the initial set of songs, he also encouraged me to go jam with my old band Dead Hearts and let me borrow his Les Paul to do so. On a snowy Sunday Dead Hearts got together in a practice space and ripped through a set of songs for fun. It was a light moment in a very heavy week. A few days later I drove my father to his chemo appointment, which after checking his vitals, was cancelled in office- his system couldn’t handle it. I was flying out that night and in the car he said “Let’s go get coffee and donuts” and that’s exactly what we did. I didn’t know it at the time, but it was the last thing we’d ever do together, he passed away the following month. Terrible. A waste. A tragedy. A death he did not deserve.
DH Jam 2024
I’ve never been good with death, or caskets or funerals. I suspect that few are, except maybe those who have accepted their impending embrace and welcome finality. I don’t believe in a higher power or an afterlife and the thought of not existing fucking scares me enough to not want to deal with it around me, but not enough to stop drinking coffee or get on a treadmill. My father left me the Les Paul he’d let me borrow. What do I do with it? I’m honored to have it, but it’s also a reminder of the man I knew, the father who died, the mortality which no one can escape. Or maybe it’s just a guitar, whose purpose is to be played and not be silent like the grave. That being said, even though I play it often, I’m too reserved, too careful with it in my hands, like I’m holding a museum piece that will surely crumble with too much pressure, but know that I’m still working through it, I’ll get there. Objects are made for use and instruments even more so than most, I’ll get there, I promise.
My father died in March of 2024 and even though I spoke at his memorial service, I wanted to honor his spirit, in some way, further. He had inspired me to play guitar when I was a kid, long before the bark and bite of James Hetfield had infected my being. He was so freaking cool, in the 70’s he had a band called Adamm that wore make up ala Kiss that he was so embarrassed of, but I thought fucking ruled. He sat in the living room noodling on his Les Paul the entire time I was growing up and gigged on the weekend. There’s nothing cooler than having a working-class rock and roll dad. So, in June 2025, I sent a text to the Dead Hearts guys that I would be in town for around 10 days the week of Thanksgiving and floated the idea of doing a reunion gig. It came together quickly and sold out 3 days after tickets went on sale in September.
Adamm in the late 70's
Soon enough November 29th, 2025, was upon us and my own kids got to see their cool working-class rock and roll dad play guitar on stage for the first time in 13 years. My oldest was a year old when Dead Hearts last reunion had taken place and my other daughter and son were not yet born. The show exceeded expectations. I don’t know why we got the love from the crowd we did, and it’s still a lot to process weeks later, but it was great. I wanted to, but I was so afraid to bring my dad’s Les Paul, I’m just not there yet, I don't think, maybe someday soon, I promise. After all, instruments are made to be played, to scream out the melody of life, and that guitar was my dad's song, my dad's life, as much as it is the world's.
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