September 12, 2006: AFI at UCI

I can’t believe I’m writing a review from a concert I went to over a year ago, but since I decided to use this blog for all my concert going experiences, it seems only fitting. After all, this is THE concert. The one that started it. The one that changed my life. Really.

I remember when I first heard that AFI was playing at UCI I wasn’t gonna go. Rita had to literally talk me into it. 1. It was during a school week. 2. Jen and I had said our first AFI concert was gonna be together. Looking back, not the most realistic goal ever considering we live on opposite sides of the country. But ya, Rita talked me into going and I was so glad she did.

For weeks after buying the tickets we were joking around about how we were going to be all out of place. We’d never been to a rock concert before. Okay, I’d been to Hyde shows but I kinda avoided the crowd and hung back. This was gonna be our first barricade. I was terrified. Large groups of people scare me. It’s one of the reasons I never went to concerts. But go we did. We got there at like 8:30 AM and camped out. We met some awesome people. This guy that flew in, got ditched by his ride and then WALKED to the venue. Enola, who has been an awesome friend since. She got us through that show, I swear. At least me. It was nice having an experienced concert goer to give you pointers. Megan, who was awesome but didn’t like wearing underwear. Sterling and her friend Michelle and their friend Chris who was wonderfully gay. We also randomly ran into Noor (did I spell that right?). It was great times in line. There was drama, of course, but it was fun.

It was really annoying when they took the line and made it two lines. So all these people who were there only for an hour got to be in the same place as us, but whatever. What annoyed me most was this one guy who called us ‘DU babies’. Urgh. Who CARES when we became fans? But anyway…

So the anticipation started to mount and finally we were let in. We ran and took our place by the barricade. I was so psyched! But as the people started filling in I was also rather nervous. So many people! All behind me! Ahh! But the stage looked pretty awesome and we were on the right side where Jade would be playing so all was good. AFI had two opening acts that night: Saosin and Tiger Army.

Saosin…boring. I don’t even remember anything about them other than that I thought they were SO boring.

Tiger Army…amazing. I had no idea this was Nick 13’s band until he introduced himself. I remember being struck by his voice and how amazing it sounded. I fell in love with that band right then. I still need to get more of their albums, but wow Tiger Army was awesome.

I remember starting to be pushed during Tiger Army and that took some of the enjoyment away. I didn’t like it at all and I was thinking ‘uh-oh, I hope this doesn’t ruin AFI for me’. Once Tiger Army left the crew started setting up for AFI. Since we were on the side we could see the magic happen. This one guy went and climbed up a rope using just his arms, hang from the rafters with one arm while fixing something and then climbed back down. We all applauded because WOW he made that look easy. We also noticed that one of the boxes said “Foo Fighters”. We joked that AFI either pulled a fast one on us and it’s actually the Fighers Foo we’re seeing or they stole their box from Warped Tour.

Suddenly the lights went off and the opening notes to Prelude 12/21 started to play. Davey walked out on stage and started to sing. We started to sing. The crowd started to push and push and something miraculous happened…I didn’t care. All of the sudden I stopped caring that I was being pushes, squished, elbowed and shoved. AFI was on stage and they were owning my life.

I don’t remember what set list they played. I don’t think it matters. What does matter is that they were spot on. Jade was always right there, being his spastic self. Davey came over and sang to us for a while. Hunter was impossible to photograph because he’d stand very still and then suddenly dart across the stage. Adam was Adam and showing those drums who’s boss. Smith did his thing. It was amazing.

I sang along and truly lost it whenever Davey commanded us to scream. And this is me. I don’t scream. But I did for them. A lot. I also learned the art of elbow-fu. I don’t push people out of my way, I just put my elbow in their side and leave it there. Eventually they all moved. The crowd surfers sucked but what can ya do?

AFI commands the stage. They command us. It was breath-taking. It was an eye-opener. Suddenly I realized that I could go to shows. I could go to concerts and be in the pit and not be scared. And go to concerts I did. Rita and I have become regular concert buddies. If she doesn’t wanna go I manage to talk Enola into it.

I can’t recall a lot of the details. Just that Davey wore pink eye shadow, Jade had his skunk-mullet and they were all in white. The little trees were blinking with their Christmas lights and everything went well. But that feeling will always be there. That moment of realization that I wasn’t scared shit-less in the pit. That this is something I can do more often. It was very freeing. Concerts are very freeing and I’m if nothing else I have to thank AFI for that.

So ya, that’s my year later concert review. I’ll be going back even further. I wanna hang on to all the concerts I’ve been to. I wanna have something to look back on. So stay tuned for Savage Garden from 2000. The two Hyde concerts and the more recent Blaqk Audio concert and Download Festival.