AFI Deliver Explosive and Well Rounded Set at the Fillmore

Monday night, punk/alternative band AFI brought their Crash Love tour to the Fillmore Theatre in Detroit.

The band delivered a solid hour and a half set filled with new tracks and old favorites.

AFI (A Fire Inside) started out 18 years ago as a East Bay hardcore punk band but has evolved over the years mixing in alternative and gothic rock with pop and electronica.

Their latest album Crash Love is a return to their harder punk sound that they started out with and for this tour they have been pulling out a number of their earlier songs every night.

Keeping with the punk theme, the band has brought out English punk rock band The Gallows as the tour opener.

Monday night, The Gallows put on a interesting set filled with craziness courtesy of singer Frank Carter.

Carter spent most of the set on the floor with the crowd prompting one of the biggest circle most pits I've seen and ending with a massive human pyramid. Carter also took quite a bit of time to mock people in the crowd.

I thought the band itself was pretty good. They share a similar sound to their punk idols Bad Religion. Unfortunately, I can't say the same for Carter who spent most of his time muttering and yelling through the songs.

AFI ended up drawing a large crowd of every age who were eager and ready to see the band take the stage. Throughout their set, the energetic crowd was dancing, singing and moshing along leaving the fans with a post show high that few bands can achieve.

AFI opened the evening with the haunting strains of Crash Love opener Torch Song and then moved into crowd favorite Girl's Gone Grey.

New tracks Too Shy to Scream and End Transmission received strong crowd reactions that actually rivaled rarely played tracks The Boy Who Destroyed the World, Love Is A Many Splendored Thing and On The Arrow.

One of the set highlights was a quiet sing along performance of The Leaving Song Part I, which memorably ended in AFI singer Davey Havok noticing a fight in the crowd. "Are you really fighting during that song? I know there's security in the room but do we have a therapist in the house? Jesus Christ, what has to be going on in your life for you to start a fight during the Leaving Song Part I?"

Havok went on to say, "We have experienced many fights over the years some of which we've joined but that is a first!"

Havok also took some time to talk about playing Detroit and his appreciation for Detroit groups like the MC5 and The Stooges.

Crash Love track Okay I Feel Better Now and crowd fave Love Like Winter also stood out.

The band closed with two tracks off of their last album Decemberunderground in The Interview and Miss Murder and finished with the triumphant classic track Silver and Cold.

AFI Setlist:

*
1. Torch Song
2. Girl's Not Grey
3. Kill Caustic
4. Too Shy to Scream
5. The Boy Who Destroyed the World
6. The Leaving Song Pt. II
7. End Transmission
8. Love Is A Many Splendored Thing
9. Beautiful Thieves
10. Dancing Through Sunday
11. The Leaving Song
12. On the Arrow
13. Okay, I Feel Better Now
14. Death of Seasons
15. Medicate
16. Love Like Winter
17. Encores: The Interview
18. Miss Murder
19. Silver and Cold