Bleeding dark into the leaves.

First of all I must address the issue of me not posting here for two and a half months. Sorry about that. I worked two Christmas jobs in the heart of downtown Portland back to back, and now have at least partial possession of my soul again.


The day began in a bit of a panic, despite the fact that I woke up at 8am and had until noon to get ready, I decided to procrastinate until 1130 to even get in the shower. My long time friend and fellow DFer was driving 6 hours to visit and come to the show with me, I rushed to get my things together, she arrived and rushed to put her things in and we rushed to get food for after the show, rush rush rush. We were extremely anxious.

We finally got to the venue, parked, and then realized I forgot our tickets.

Fail.

So we definitely broke laws to drive back and get it as quickly as possible, I ran in the house and ran out like there was a fire inside (yes I did) and we definitely broke laws to get back to the venue.

We got in line at about 1pm and there were about 6 people in front of us. Some of the nicest, coolest people I've met, and some of which I'd met before. Kayla and I remembered Jray from the War Tapes/Love Equals Death/Tiger Army show. (You can see my blog about that show here.)

We took a super cool DF picture.

L-R: Kayla, Sydney, Jray, Me, Whitney and Lia.

Later on in the day we also had the pleasure of meeting Adam (Mada!) Dan (A SolitaryEcho) Jess (llessica) Kylie (in.the.dark) and Hannah who's username I forget! It was really cool to be able to hang with a bunch of other DF kids and see what they're into and where they're from.

We stood in line and talked, joked, shared stories of AFI shows past and attempted to contain our excitement for what was to come. We took turns hobo-dodging and kept our necks craning for any wandering band members, we stood in line for six hours. We had a lot of time to talk.

Then, finally, a guy with a security jacket and a thick accent I could not correctly define came out and said "EVVEEVUN IN DE DESSPAAAIR FACHUUUN LINE UP OVER HEEYA" It kind of sounded like the Governator...so what's that, Austrian?

We quickly scurried over to the other side of the venue and got these shiny things:

Front of the Barricade:

Another hour and a half of waiting, and then Ceremony, they were okay, not really my thing, but I think my experience of them would have been a lot more positive if some AFI-hating assholes weren't continuously crowdsurfing and purposely kicking people in the back of the head, spitting on them and screaming 'AFI SUCKS'. I must have got a doc martin to the skull about 20 times. I can handle rough crowds, I can handle crowdsurfers, but I could not handle that. I sobbed on the barricade and the bodyguard guy kept saying he wanted to pull me out, but I refused.

We waited for another half hour while AFI set up, my head was pounding, then the lights went off again, and I forgot I had ever been hit to begin with.

Only that can give you an idea of the insanity that was going on, much to my surprise there were complaints from others that the crowd was too dull, but that certainly wasn't happening in the front row let me tell you, we were losing our minds. You can see me and Kayla in the front on that video.

Setlist:
Medicate
Girl's Not Grey
The Leaving Song Pt. II
I Am Trying Very Hard To Be Here
Kill Caustic
End Transmission
Ever And A Day
Love Is A Many Splendord Thing
Beautiful Thieves
Dancing Through Sunday
The Missing Frame
On The Arrow
Death Of Seasons
Miss Murder
The Interview
Love Like Winter
Silver And Cold

I linked to some really awesome and close-up videos that youtube user 4morim shot, there is also a FANTASTIC video of the entire set shot from the balcony here on AFIvids.com

The whole set was absolutely amazing, IATVHTBH was extremely special for me because that is one of my favorite songs off of CL, and I am also considering getting a line from that song tattoed. I was really looking forward to hearing the Crash Love songs, this album has really had an incredible effect on me, and it was quite a unique experience wanting to hear the newer songs more than older songs. (Though I certainly wouldn't have minded more old songs

I was also extremely happy that they play The Interview. That song means SO much to me, and I actually found a clip of the ending of that song. And much to my surprised I actually saw a positive youtube comment that didn't make me want to throw up. In fact, I couldn't have said it any better myself.

"I am so amazed that they played this song for us. I know they only played this song once in the past month and I just can't explain how grateful I am they picked Portland to sing it. They sang this song for me. For all of us that were there that night that live off this song. Thanks for uploading."

Silver and Cold was also really special for me and Kayla, we met during that time, she has a sing the sorrow tattoo, and that song was really what cemented me as an AFI fan forever. It was an incredibly emotional reminder of how long I've been doing following AFI and all the ups and downs the band has gone through. And that I've personally gone through.

It brings me more joy than anything to see the boys in top shape, playing well, sounding well, and hearing Davey sing so incredibly well...which in fact brings me to my next point.

After the show, delirious, sore, sweaty and gross we wandered over to the merch table, and I bought a silver on black STS, the DF west coast tour shirt and a Crash Love poster, and we said goodbye to Hannah (a long time DF friend who I'd known for years but never got the chance to meet.), and delibrated whether or not we wanted to stay and meet the band.

Despite my weary condition, my immediate answer was 'Yes.' We stood in a crowd of about 100 people. Kayla and I talked to Adam, Dan and Jess (and I'm sure others that I'm rudely forgetting.)

Mr.Carson came out. People mobbed him. He went over to Ground Control (bar + arcade across the street) we waited for another hour, he came back. We got our poster signed and took pictures, but they came out all grainy and dark and gross so we just scrapped them. Both Kayla and I already had good pictures with Adam, so it wasn't too much of a heartbreak. He was very nice as per usual, a highlight was him taking this picture for a person unable to make it to the show.

Everything was fun, and then the activity died away, and we waited for about another 45 minutes, then Kylie and Adam left, then Dan and Jessica left...another hour goes by. And all of a sudden these two guys at the gate are cheering and then everyone started cheering. Davey had walked out of the club and into the bus.

Everyone was pretty sure that was all we were going to see of him, but much to everyones surprise, he came back out with a coat and a sharpie in hand and Smith bodyguarding. He didn't take any pictures, but he was EXTREMELY nice, sweet as pie, there were these two guys who kept gushing loudly over and over how awesome he was and I was sure that would scare him off, but he just let it roll off of him and said how horrible he thought it was that AFI hadn't played Portland in seven years.

I waited my turn, walked up, he grabbed my poster and I said "You really sounded amazing tonight Davey, thank you." and he looked me right in the eyes and said "Thank you! I'm glad you enjoyed it, thanks for coming". And then I did. Best night of my life. Hands down.

We drove back, tired, exhausted, with our heads still in the clouds, had beer and pizza, watched South Park, and joyously discussed every moment of the day.

Thanks to all the wonderful friends I got to see for the first time in a long time, thanks to all the new friends I made, thank you to all the DFers for still having the fire. Thank you AFI, for still being able to bring it, for still writing great songs, for still existing. It's gonna take me a long time to stop smiling from this.

<3