AFI and Dillinger Escape Plan at Avalon
By DAVID BOFFA | June 22, 2006
AFI |
Gothpunk and metalskronk make for strange bedfellows, even moreso at Avalon last night when Jersey’s Dillinger Escape Plan opened for Cali chart-toppers AFI. (That’s to say nothing of the early band, Nightmare of You, who traffic in classic, jangled power-pop: ironically, this may have been the only context in which that kind of music could be construed as a total “fuck you.”) Dillinger’s distorted, jazz-touched Harvard-guide-to-mathcore skronk on Miss Machine couldn’t be more at odds with the refined ’80s-new-wave/thrashpop of AFI’s Decemberunderground. But the variation in sonic textures seemed not to matter much -- most likely, it was the point -- and an enthusiastic crowd packed the floor, surfing and slamming to both bands as best they could.DEP singer Greg Puciato kicked things off by disappearing into the rafters 15 seconds into their first song, as the other four guys exploded into hysteric convulsions down on the stage. The chop-shop time signatures and acrobatic stunt-guitar of "43% Burnt" made for a perfect backdrop when Puciato, having scaled a precarious stack of equipment, bashed his drummer’s cymbal stand against the roof-secured PA speakers and flailed his own mic stand in the air. Within the first four songs, Puciato had also torn down a guitar amp and thrown himself at the mercy of the front row. This is what is known, in the business, as a tough act to follow.
As AFI frontman Davey Havok took the stage, it seemed impossible that something better would follow: this is a guy who wears mascara and eye shadow, a band in which all four members’ faces grace a tour t-shirt. (C’mon: who buys a shirt with the drummer’s face on it?) Perhaps the dudes behind me put it best by chanting "Gay-F-I," in a failed attempt to drown out the Despair Faction’s more predictable chants of "A-F-I." But the haters were in the stark minority: the crowd sang along to every song, even the newer throwaways (“Prelude 12/21”) and the older stuff (“A Single Second”). And looks can be deceiving, the energy level and screamo factor on "Miss Murder" and "Silver and Cold" were on par with their tourmates, and nudged them to the "better act of the night" status.
Related:
AFI, Dillinger Escape Plan, Going on sale: October 26, 2007, More 
- AFI
AFI's high-gloss, higher-energy Decemberunderground is like a Rocky Horror Picture Show for screamo kids. AFI's "Kill Caustic" (Windows Media Player)
- Dillinger Escape Plan
Dillinger Escape Plan are scientists.
- Going on sale: October 26, 2007
Dillinger Escape Plan, Street Dogs, Michael Ian Black, and more.
- Torche
Since metal is a world created by male dorks, it has to be the most excessively sub-categorized genre of music ever.
- All talk, no action
This article originally appeared in the January 26, 1982 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
- Turtledove Pesto
Samuel Adams and Dunkin’ Donuts are local brands that need no introduction, even nationally.
- School '75
This article originally appeared in the August 5, 1975 issue of the Boston Phoenix.
- Experiment illness
The good news is that it doesn’t appear RJ’s insistence on artistic challenge will be his undoing.
- Scoring points
A tap-dancer, a magician, and an eight-piece horn section. According to a recent Web-site missive from Tiger Saw, the latest incarnation of the Newburyport-based indie collective includes all three.
- War of independents
The IFFB is determined to wrest cinematic freedom from the imperial power of the Hollywood studios.
- Passion-less
If the St. John Passion is Bach’s equivalent of lesser Shakespeare, the St. Matthew Passion is Bach’s King Lear.
- Less
Topics:
Live Reviews
, Culture and Lifestyle, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Fashion and Style, More
, Culture and Lifestyle, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Fashion and Style, Cosmetics, Davey Havok, Greg Puciato, Beauty Products, AFI, AFI, Less
