The bands’ paths nearly converged in 2004, following the release of AFI’s major label debut (Sing the Sorrow) and Green Day’s rock-opera, American Idiot, but once again Green Day far surpassed AFI’s popularity. Fast forward to the present: both bands joined forces to support their latest 2009 releases. The timing seemed to be right: the exponentially more popular Green Day took AFI on a coast-to-coast run of America’s summer theaters, giving the act a chance to gain exposure in front of nearly twenty-thousand fans per night.

AFI

Beginning promptly at the advertised time of 7PM, AFI opened the evening with “Medicate”, the lead single from 2009′s Crash Love. Amidst a generally stale (yet well-performed) “greatest hits” set, the quartet did manage to play a few interesting cuts, including the rarely seen “I am Trying Very Hard to Be Here” which featured frontman Davey Havok dancing about the stage wearing a pink boa — a gift from a fan. Havok did his best to accommodate a group of loyal AFI fans who came out to see the band’s brief set, encouraging them to turn the seating area in front of the stage into a “GA” standing room affair; the singer even jumped into the crowd to perform, sitting next to fans while singing.

AFI

To a fairly empty venue, AFI raced through ten tracks in just thirty-five minutes, wasting no time between songs and just once embellishing on a song’s original studio version (“Dancing Through Sunday” featured an extended introduction, extending the brief track’s length to just under three minutes). The seasoned veterans clearly understood their role as an opening band at an 18,000-capacity arena: play some well-known songs to whet the crowd’s appetite, and then quickly make way for the headlining act.

Medicate
Girl’s Not Grey
The Leaving Song Pt. II
I am Trying Very Hard to Be Here
End Transmission
Beautiful Thieves
Dancing Through Sunday
Silver and Cold
Miss Murder
Love Like Winter

Green Day

In front of an enormous, elaborate cityline backdrop, Green Day kicked off their pyrotechnics-filled setlist with a four-song barrage of 21st Century Breakdown songs, including the album’s first three songs in order. “East Jesus Nowhere” went fourth, and frontman Billie Joe Armstrong used the song to reenact a a stereotypical Southern United States Christian salvation scene. Acting as a preacher, Armstrong brought a young fan on stage, dramatically placed his hands on the boy’s head, and then expelled all evil from his body, proclaiming that the boy had now been saved.

Green Day

“Holiday” pleasantly interrupted the string of 21st Century Breakdown songs and theatrics with Green Day ripping through the song in front of a video background of planes, tanks, and similarly themed war propaganda. “Are We the Waiting” into “St. Jimmy” segued perfectly; more from 2004′s American Idiot followed with a solid performance of “Boulevard of Broken Dreams”, one of the band’s most recognizable tunes.

Green Day

Midway through their three-hour set, Green Day shifted gears and dug into their punk-pop catalog of the 1990s. A pair of album-openers led the charge: Dookie‘s “Burnout” and Nimrod‘s “Nice Guys Finished Last”. One of the night’s remarkable highlights came with AFI’s Davey Havok singing on “Who Wrote Holden Caufield”, embarrassing Armstrong’s barely passable vocals in the process. Interestingly, the song was first released on Kerplunk! in 1991 — the same year Havok founded AFI with drummer Adam Carson. Green Day continued to string together songs released decades ago, including “Paper Laterns” and “2000 Light Years Away”, during which Armstrong invited fans to rush on stage and sing along.

Green Day

For as good as Green Day’s performance was, the night wasn’t without missteps, the first of these coming in the form of an uninspired and poorly executed medley of Black Sabbath (“Iron Man”), Van Halen (“Ain’t Talkin’ ‘Bout Love”), The Kinks (“You Really Got Me”), Guns N’ Roses (“Sweet Child o’ Mine”), and AC/DC (“Highway to Hell”). The band picked up steam with the radio-recognizable “Brain Stew” and “Jaded” combination, but things kept turning sour with Armstrong’s constant calls for the crowd to echo his “hey-oh” cries during and between many songs. The band brought a few fans on stage for “Longview”, each unsuccessfully attempting to the sing the not-too-difficult tune, but a woman performing the song through American Sign Language ultimately salvaged an otherwise poor performance of what could have been a great song.

Green Day

The jovial “King for a Day” quickly transformed into The Isley Brothers’ “Shout”, featuring drummer Tre Cool on lead vocals. Another botched medley from Armstrong once again brought Green Day’s set down to an unbearable crawl, with the singer laying down on the front of the stage while working through bits and pieces of The Doors (“Break On Through (To The Other Side)”), Tom Petty (“Free Fallin’”), The Rolling Stones (“(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction”), Bruce Springsteen (“I’m on Fire”), and The Beatles (“Hey Jude”). Luckily, Armstrong followed with a solid solo acoustic performance of “Extraordinary Girl”. The penultimate “21 Guns” was mind-numbingly dull, but “Minority” (the only cut from 2000′s Warning) wrapped up the first part of Green Day’s setlist successfully.

Green Day

As part of the first encore, Armstrong walked through the crowd during an extended bridge of “American Idiot” while the band droned through the song’s monotonous three power-chords. The ten-minute “Jesus of Suburbia”, in contrast, was excellent. “When It’s Time”, debuted through the American Idiot musical, began the band’s second encore with just Armstrong alone with a guitar. “Wake Me Up When September Ends” continued to showcase Green Day’s softer side, and Armstrong wrapped the evening up with the band’s biggest hit, “Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)” and a fireworks display.

Song Of The Century
21st Century Breakdown
Know Your Enemy
East Jesus Nowhere
Holiday
¡Viva la Gloria!
Give Me Novacaine
Letterbomb
Are We the Waiting
St. Jimmy
Boulevard of Broken Dreams
Burnout
Nice Guys Finish Last
Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?
Paper Lanterns
2000 Light Years Away
Hitchin’ A Ride
When I Come Around
(first medley)
Brain Stew
Jaded
Longview
Basket Case
She
King for a Day
Shout (The Isley Brothers cover)
(second medley)
Extraordinary Girl
21 Guns
Minority
American Idiot
Jesus of Suburbia
When It’s Time
Wake Me Up When September Ends
Good Riddance (Time Of Your Life)

Green Day

What began as a concert morphed into a carnival, almost spiraling out of control towards boredom and unrestrained excess. Somewhere between drenching fans with a firehose, launching shirts out of an air cannon, and donning various costumes, Green Day managed to play a solid setlist filled with not just their many singles, but also lesser known fan-favorites. Three hours is a long time to play in front of a crowd, but only two-thirds of that time was about playing the band’s music with the rest being theatrics and filler. Still, Green Day deserves much praise for tackling more than thirty songs, largely with unbridled passion and impressive accuracy. Armstrong is a flamboyant frontman who thrives on theatrics; it’s not readily-apparent on Green Day’s albums, but one trip to a Green Day concert reveals that the band is heavily invested in both their music and their stage show alike.

Still, the band has their roots. In support of their most radio-ready album to date, the band brought emerging UK punk quintet Gallows as the band’s lone support. Selling out Sayreville’s 2200-capacity Starland Ballroom, AFI offered brief glimpses into their past throughout the evening but were clearly more interested in their latest material, most specifically 2009′s Crash Love and 2003′s Sing the Sorrow.

Gallows setlist

Lone opener Gallows started the evening with their British blend of punk rock. Fronted by the charismatic Frank Carter, the five-piece played material from their debut, Orchestra of Wolves, and 2009′s Grey Britain. Though I missed the band’s full performance, the ten-song setlist follows:

Leeches
London is the Reason
Come Friendly Bombs
The Great Forgiver
Abandon Ship
Gold Dust
Misery
I Dread the Night
In the Belly of a Shark
Orchestra of Wolves

“Torch Song” began things for AFI, who for the first time in a decade opened their set without a specially tailored intro (such as Sing the Sorrow‘s “Miseria Canteria” or Decemberunderground‘s “Prelude 12/21″). Without much suspense, the band kicked into their biggest single, “Girls Not Grey”. “The Leaving Song Pt. II” followed, and the crowd responded with a floor full of dancing.

AFI frontman Davey Havok (photo by GLK Creative)

Shoes and other items were lost during the frenzy, prompting frontman Davey Havok to inquire about an estranged sneaker. Both playful and thoughtful, Havok tried his best to return the footwear to its barefooted owner, but the item ended up in the hands of a fan who was creepily thrilled just to have something that Havok had touched.

Winona Rider-inspired “Veronica Sawyer Smokes” was a welcomed change of pace from the aggressive “The Leaving Song Pt. II”, offering Havok his first chance of the night to showcase his excellent range. “Ever and a Day” found the band jumping back to 2000′s Nitro Records effort, The Art of Drowning, exciting everyone in the crowd who has been following the band for some time.

Sick of it All’s Lou Koller came on stage to provide additional vocals on “Kill Caustic”, transforming a mediocre song into a powerhouse. The audience reacted appropriately with a giant pit, even if most of the crowd was entirely too young to understand or appreciate Koller’s influence on not only AFI but also punk music across America. The radio-ready “End Transmission” calmed things down, offering no indication of the excellent surprise just minutes away.

AFI guitarist Jade Puget (photo by GLK Creative)

Dedicating the song to Gallows, the band exploded into “Love is a Many Splendored Thing”, a hardcore-punk romp originally appearing on 1993′s Eddie Picnic’s All Wet EP. The glimpse back into AFI’s past was unexpected and absolutely phenomenal, albeit short-lived.

“Dancing Through Sunday” was excellent, with guitarist Jade Puget tearing through the song’s finger-tapped solo. A few quiet numbers followed, with “The Leaving Song” and Decemberunderground b-side “On the Arrow”, the latter featuring drummer Adam Carson for the first time stepping out from behind the skins to provide percussion in the form of a hand shaker.

The Refused-like “Death of Seasons” was one of the night’s highlights, and single “Medicate” received a solid performance. A strong rendition of  “Love Like Winter” closed the set and the band walked off stage.

AFI returned on stage to loud applause with a cover of The Cure’s “Just Like Heaven”. “Miss Murder” followed, with the crowd exploding on Hunter Burgan’s opening bass notes. The wintery “Silver and Cold” finished the evening. The full set:

AFI setlist

Torch Song
Girls Not Grey
The Leaving Song Pt. II
Veronica Sawyer Smokes
Ever and a Day
Kill Caustic
End Transmission
Love is a Many Splendored Thing
Beautiful Thieves
Dancing Through Sunday
The Leaving Song
On the Arrow
Death of Seasons
Medicate
Love Like Winter
Just Like Heaven (The Cure cover)
Miss Murder
Silver and Cold

The band’s setlist was disappointing, with just two songs from 1991-2002. Black Sails in the Sunset, possibly the band’s best work, was entirely absent. Longtime staples from the era (“Totalimmortal”, “God Called in Sick Today”, “The Days of the Phoenix”) were questionably missing. One third of the set came from 2003′s Sing the Sorrow. Crash Love contributed five songs, a fair number considering the album’s recent release. The Cure cover was well-performed but unnecessary, as the band performed the song during their previous trip to Starland Ballroom.

AFI bassist Hunter Burgan (photo by GLK Creative)

Disappointing setlist aside, the songs AFI did select to perform sounded excellent with few exceptions (“Girls Not Grey” is a weak live cut; “Miss Murder” is a weak song). Havok has never sounded better, and Crash Love tracks like “Beautiful Thieves” sounded much better than they do on the album. Burgan’s vocal harmonies–a new addition to AFI’s live repertoire–sounded great.

AFI continues on their tour with Gallows into December, including a November stop in New York City at the 3200-person Roseland Ballroom. New fans of AFI (2003 to present) will find much to love in the band’s excellent live show and major label-heavy setlist, while old fans cannot help but feel disappointed in knowing that buried underneath every bland “Girls Not Grey” and uninspired “Miss Murder” sits a dusty catalog of some of the greatest goth-punk songs ever written.

The footage is taken from the Playstation remake of Final Fantasy VI, a game originally released in the early 1990s on the SNES. (Note, the closing credits need to be modified, as it still contains the URL for my old website, TimeFall–I’ll be updating it to refer to inTuneMusic shortly.)