Decemberunderground turned 20 this year, and AFI chose to celebrate by packing The Truman to the walls on a Friday night in Kansas City. The sold-out crowd was locked in before the lights went down. By the time "Girl's Not Grey" ripped open the set, it was clear this wasn't going to be a nostalgia trip. This was a band with something to prove, and they proved it for 17 songs straight.
A Band Operating on a Different Frequency
Davey Havok's voice hasn't just held up. It's sharper now, more controlled, still capable of going feral when the song calls for it. But the real story on Friday was the unit. Jade Puget, Hunter Burgan, and Adam Carson — along with Havok — played like four people sharing one nervous system. Every transition was seamless. Every dynamic shift landed. The chemistry onstage wasn't performative. It was the real thing.
AFI in 2026 is a band that has aged into itself. Puget's guitar tone was massive and precise, Carson's drumming was relentless without ever overplaying, and Havok commanded the stage with the same intensity he had 20 years ago, just more deliberate now. Less chaos, more control. It works.
Decemberunderground at 20
Rather than running the album front to back, AFI threaded Decemberunderground tracks across the whole set. "Love Like Winter" came early and hit hard, two decades of singalongs behind every word. "The Killing Lights" crackled midset. "Miss Murder" closed the encore and blew the roof off, because of course it did.
The deeper album cuts were the highlight, though. "Endlessly, She Said" opened the encore with a slow ache that reminded the room how much emotional range this record always had underneath the singles. Smart sequencing: pull back before the kill shot.
The Full Spectrum
The set wasn't all Decemberunderground, and it didn't need to be. "The Days of the Phoenix" and "This Celluloid Dream" were there for the Art of Drowning and Sing the Sorrow faithful. "Silver and Cold" was gutting. Havok stretched every syllable until it almost broke, and the room went quiet enough to hear it happen.
The newer stuff held up, and even excelled alongside the classics. "Holy Visions" and "VOIDWARD, I BEND BACK" weren't filler between the hits. They stood on their own. AFI doesn't really have a weak era, and a show like this makes the case better than any argument could.
The Venue, The Crowd
The Truman was the right room for this show. It's intimate enough that Havok could make eye contact with the front row and loud enough that the bass hit your chest. A sold-out room generates a kind of pressure that bigger festivals can't touch, and Friday night was proof. The energy went both ways all night. Band fed the crowd, crowd fed the band, and it never let up.
Setlist
Main Set
1. Girl's Not Grey
2. Love Like Winter
3. Holy Visions
4. Wester
5. The Conductor
6. 17 Crimes
7. Advances in Modern Technology
8. Behind the Clock
9. The Killing Lights
10. This Celluloid Dream
11. VOIDWARD, I BEND BACK
12. I Hope You Suffer
13. Marguerite
14. The Days of the Phoenix
15. Silver and Cold
Encore
16. Endlessly, She Said
17. Miss Murder
AFI played The Truman in Kansas City, MO on May 1, 2026, as part of their 2026 tour celebrating the 20th anniversary of Decemberunderground. The show was sold out.
Photos by Colt Coan