AFI
Showbox SoDo, Seattle, WA
04.15.26
The opening night of AFI’s Holy Visions 2026 Tour at Showbox SoDo on April 15 felt less like the start of a run and more like a band already in full stride. Playing to a sold-out crowd in Seattle, AFI delivered a set that balanced reverence for their past with a confident push into their latest era.
The night opened with Choir Boy, whose shimmering, synth-driven sound set an appropriately atmospheric tone. Their nostalgic, emotionally charged set, especially from their singer Adam Klopp, primed the audience for AFI’s return to a darker, more textured sonic palette.
AFI’s current tour supports their 11th studio album, Silver Bleed the Black Sun—a record steeped in a kind of nu-wave goth revival that feels both deliberate and natural for a band that has long flirted with mood and melody. The most popular single, Holy Visions, appeared early in the set as the fourth track of the night, signaling the band’s intent to foreground new material without alienating longtime fans. In total, five songs from the new album were woven into a setlist that spanned all ten of their previous records.
They opened with “Strength Through Wounding,” immediately igniting the room chanting the iconic phrase “Through our bleeding, we are one” before rolling into classics like “Girl’s Not Grey” and “Love Like Winter.” The pacing never lagged, with older cuts like “Ever and a Day” and “Bleed Black” sitting comfortably alongside newer material like “Marguerite” and “VOIDWARD, I BEND BACK.”
Midway through the show, frontman Davey Havok paused briefly to address the crowd in a rare moment of candid enthusiasm: “I don’t say much but what a great way to start the fucking tour. This is not just lip service—this is fucking great.” It was a genuine acknowledgment of the crowd’s intensity, which never dipped throughout the night.
The emotional peak came during “17 Crimes,” which Havok dedicated simply “to Jonny,” lending the performance a personal weight. Elsewhere, before launching into “The Boy Who Destroyed the World,” Havok quipped, “It’s not old, but you think it is,” from their All Hallow’s EP, a self-aware nod to the band’s multi-generational audience.
The main set closed strong with “Nooneunderground,” before AFI returned for a two-song encore: “The Days of the Phoenix” and “Silver and Cold,” both of which drew some of the loudest reactions of the night. It was a fitting end to a performance that included a little bit of everything, intensity, nostalgia, and evolution.
With such a powerful opening night, speculation is already turning toward what comes next. Many fans are hoping AFI will mark the 20th anniversary of decemberunderground with a dedicated tour. However, given that the band never delivered a full tour for Sing the Sorrow, expectations remain cautious. Still, the idea of a combined nostalgic run celebrating both albums lingers as an exciting possibility for later this year.
Set List
Strength Through Wounding
Girl’s Not Grey
Love Like Winter
Holy Visions
Ever and a Day
Bleed Black
Behind the Clock
17 Crimes
Beautiful Thieves
Marguerite
The Boy Who Destroyed the World
The Killing Lights
VOIDWARD, I BEND BACK
I Hope You Suffer
Nooneunderground
Encore:
The Days of the Phoenix
Silver and Cold
Photos and review by Logan Westom
