Oh, AFI, how I love thee! My love story began around February 2003,
when I bought a British music magazine called Q. I’d never heard of it
before, nor did I have the money to actually buy it (8 damn Euros!),
but my mom was nice enough to buy it for me. I owe her BIG TIME! I was
just kind of sifting through the pages when I came to the CD review
section, and there was a review for an album that hadn’t come out yet;
Sing the Sorrow by a band called AFI. I’d never heard of them either,
but something about the picture that was above the review pulled me
in. I read the review, which was really good, and I was intrigued to
say the least. I immediately dashed into our garage, where our
computer was at the time, and downloaded a whole bunch of songs. I was
in love!
When the album came out, I was already completely smitten with their
music. It was all I listened to. So when I saw it in my local record
store I immediately bought it and put it on repeat. Amazing! I
gradually ordered the rest of their albums from the internet. Then I
saw it on the internet: AFI was coming to Amsterdam in March. Oh my
god. I wanted to go so badly, but I couldn’t! I had no one to come
with me, and I was only 13 so my parents would never let me go alone.
I was devastated, but then I heard rumors that they were playing at
the Lowlands festival in August. Oh my god part two! I begged, begged,
and begged…but no. Not this time. Dammit! I had just discovered them,
I was hopelessly in love, I had two opportunities within a year to see
them live, but I just couldn’t go. I hope you can imagine how
enormously frustrated I was!
Years passed. In those years I still only listened to AFI, I visited
AFI messageboards, met a whole bunch of amazing people through those
boards, and wrote letters to the members of the band. Both Jade and
Adam replied, and I nearly died when I saw the envelopes with the USA
stamps on them. I don’t think I’ve ever blushed that hard! My mom
thought I was insane. In those years, my parents started realizing how
much AFI and their music meant to me, and my dad started to appreciate
their music. I saw opportunities! So when in 2007 Decemberunderground
came out and the band announced a European tour, I nearly exploded.
But no, no, nooooo! They weren’t playing a show in the Netherlands!
Again, I was devastated, but for some reason my mind kept going
“Cologne, Cologne, Cologne.” They were playing in Cologne on October
7, on a Saturday. Cologne wasn’t that far away. Cologne was only 4
hours by ICE. This time I didn’t even have to beg: my dad wanted to
come with me!
I managed to get tickets through the DF presales, from a German
website that I did not understand, and we could get really cheap train
tickets for the ICE. The hotel was booked just as quickly, and on
Saturday morning we were off to Cologne! After struggling to find our
hotel we managed to get to the venue in time. We waited in line for
about an hour (my dad still thought I was nuts) before we got to enter
the venue and managed to get a spot right up front! Oh my god! I was
on Jade’s side, which made me way too happy, and just a few moments
after, I saw some familiar faces from the messageboards! It was great,
we had lots of fun, screamed at Smith who was right in front of us,
and fangirled like crazy. In short, my first AFI concert was
absolutely amazing and I’m glad I went all the way to Cologne to see
them, ’cause the next time they came to Amsterdam was 8 months later
and I don’t think I could have survived those months!
Right now, I’m just really excited about the new album and I’m hoping
that AFI will perform in the Netherlands in 2009. And if not, I might
consider another trip to Germany!

AFI, even though my obsession has gone down just slightly (which I
simply blame on me getting older), I still love you with all my heart,
and I can’t imagine what I’d be without you!