Mourning In Amerika – Punk is Alive!
Flash back to 2004: four of my best friends are in a band, and I’m helping them perform a song in our 8th-grade talent show. The song they are playing? AFI‘s “Days of the Phoenix.” From the first time I heard them play that song I was sold; this was the musical style that I had been looking for to fill my angst-ridden soul. From there I spiraled into so many other forms of rock, punk, goth, hardcore, and a million other little subgenres in between. In my later years I even got some of AFI’s album art tattooed onto my body permanently, and to this day if you ask me who my favorite band EVER is, I’m going to say them. So of course when I heard that they were coming to Nashvilles Marathon Music Works on September 9th along with punk and hardcore powerhouses Rise Against and Anti-Flag I rushed to snag tickets. Fortunately for me, they were also playing at a venue I shoot for regularly, and, after the person who was originally going to shoot backed out, I was able to snag myself a photo pass and wanted to tell our loyal readers about it!
Anti-Flag started the evening off and revved the crowd up from song one. Plenty of social commentary and energy exuded throughout their entire performance, and The Clash would have been incredibly proud of their rendition of “Should I stay or Should I Go.” Towards the end of the show, the band even broke down their drum set and jumped out into the crowd to play one last song surrounded by a circle pit of flailing onlookers. Indisputably these guys are keeping punk alive, more so than the majority of bands still doing it!
Up next was AFI. I’ve seen these guys multiple times throughout the years, and this evening we got some awesome gems from older albums and even a stunning rendition of David Bowie’s “Ziggy Stardust.” The stunning vibrato with which singer Davey Havok performs makes it apparent why the band was once stuck with the label of “goth punk,” which is honestly how I would define their sound today. If you have ever listened to The Sisters of Mercy or Siouxsie and the Banshees, you will definitely hear their influence alongside influences from bands like Minor Threat. This evening the band played with their usual high energy, flailing on stage, but Havok seemed a little off his game. It was noticed that along with water on stage he had a hot tea, which along with a drop from playing 15 songs two shows before to 10 at this show might indicate some sort of vocal cord injury.
Finally Rise Against took stage. Another band with heavy roots in the hardcore scene, tonight they showed that with melody and grace a band can still speak out against corruption and their views of misuse of power in the government. The band never missed a beat and played every hit they have ever had. Towards the end they even did a couple of acoustic songs before coming back to finish the night in true punk fashion with more energy than one would think they could muster after the seeing the rest of the show they had just played. Lighting, sound quality, stage presence: Rise Against truly pulled out all of the stops for this tour, and it all worked out amazingly. Snag your tickets for your nearest stop ASAP! Stay tuned for a more in-depth picture gallery in the coming days!
