3/11/03 Sing the Sorrow was released. Tomorrow/today STS turns 15 years old. Share your Sing the Sorrow memories. I’ll start…
Your turn! 
When I think of STS…the first thing that comes into my mind is that after falling in love with “Girls Not Grey” I started looking for more AFI songs…STS came along and it was a complete revelation for me…all other albums and my passion for AFI came after that 
I remember listening to ATASF and VPOY on repeat before I was able to go to Futureshop and buy STS on the 13th. I remember the very next day going to school. It was rainy, and cloudy. I was absolutely floored by the album, and the weather felt like it was the perfect moment. It was such a drastic change from the music I used to listen to, but yet, it felt right to me, and I was absolutely hooked beyond words after that. I’m thankful that album could have fallen in my 13 year old hands at that very moment.
I remember going to my first concert without adult supervision. It was amazing. Watching Davey back flip into the crowd…so amazing. Being in a crowd of people who could all sing every word. It still makes me deliriously happy to think about it.
Ditched college for the afternoon. Drove into town with a mate, to go and pick up the album from HMV on release day. Spent the rest of the afternoon with album on repeat. Instantly fell in love with it.
Saw them for the first time in June that year and was probably the most excited I’ve ever been going to a show. When you look back now at the setlist we got, it’s absolutely godlike.
June 6th 2003, London Forum.
I first got into AFI during The Art of Drowning era (having seen them support The Offspring) so Sing the Sorrow was the AFI first album that was able to enjoy the release.
I managed to see them a couple of times in the build up to STS coming out but when they toured for the album I went to all 3 gigs in the UK (London, Manchester and Glasgow). It was such an awesome few days for me as I had managed to get a place on the meet and greet for the London show, I also think I was the first person to the venue at 8am!! Ha, the things you do when you’re younger. Very odd watching people going to work in the morning and then leave in the evening when you’ve literally spent the whole day standing outside a building!
If I remember rightly I think the meet and greet you got to watch the soundcheck as well before they signed peoples stuff and chatted for a bit. I believe they played Dancing Through Sunday then asked the handful of people that were watch the soundcheck what other song they wanted to play and I said Now The World And they played it!!
The following day they played Manchester and I’d roped my mate into coming so that he could drive me there. He’d literally just passed his test though and both me and him had no idea where we were going. Consequently he drove us the wrong way round the M25 (Motorway that goes around London) and it took us about 8 hours to he there, probably 4 Times what it should have been.
I remember walking past a few of the band and saying hi when we eventually got to Manchester and were trying to find our hotel.
I think a couple of days after there was also a signing in HMV in London which I believe was when Girls Not Grey was released. So I went along to that as well.
A day or so after that I flew from Heathrow to Glasgow to see them for the last of the 3 shows. You know you’ve got issues when your flying place to see bands. I remember seeing a girl in the crowd that had an absolutely massive nephilim tattoo across the whole of her back that really put mine to shame! I think I also scammed my way into the meet and greet as they were letting people that had come from other countries in as well. Consequently I have a lot of STS era stuff signed!
Good times and some amazing sets. I would seriously love to go back and do it all again!!
How do you store all of your AFI stuff?
I’ve got a loft conversion and most of its in there. Some of the more valuable items are in a 12” flight case like the Sealed STS Vinyl etc. Other stuffs just in boxes. I’ve been meaning to get one of those Ikea units to store it all but haven’t got round to it as yet.
STS was my intro to AFI and I can say without a doubt that it’s the greatest album of all time. I have a roommate that’s a casual fan and we were talking about music the other day when he mentioned that he thought it was the greatest album of all time too. My new favorite roommate.
Have you seen the live footage of this show (maybe you want to keep your memories pure)? Is there anything that the video doesn’t show that you distinctly remember? Opening acts? The fellow fans? I know the footage seems to imply Davey jumping into the crowd at the first verse of Lost Souls, but I imagine the viewer would infer that as well.
Yeah, got the thing on dvd somewhere. I remember not caring too much for the supports (crash love tour is the only ones that really stood out). There were strength through wounding chants going off throughout the evening. Seem to remember queuing up waiting to get in, and either Hunter and/or smith poking their heads out of an upper floor window (I want to say they dropped paper rose petals out, but I may have totally made that up).
Also remember getting ridiculously excited when I realised they were playing this time imperfect. Other than that memories aren’t too different from the footage. Also got a tshirt which I still wear today.
EDIT: I think this was one of the first shows I went to that i didn’t go into the pit for. I just wanted to soak it all in.
Some Sing the Sorrow related thoughts, a day late:
-I remember being in an AIM group chat with a few board people the night it leaked in late January (a few days before the Irving Plaza NYC shows). At least one of these people was a moderator who was simultaneously geeking out about the album in the chat and reprimanding people on the board for talking about it before its proper release date.
-Girl’s Not Grey and This Celluloid Dream had already been officially released to various sites and whatever to promote the album. While I had kind of mixed feelings initially on those, Miseria Cantare, Dancing Through Sunday, and Death of Seasons blew my mind the first time I heard them and made me stop worrying about the major label jump, and the fact that I was kind of lukewarm on the previous songs. (I’ve actually grown to really enjoy Girl’s Not Grey at shows over the years.)
-Those Irving Plaza shows before the album (and presumably the other handful of dates they did around that time) had a really awesome buzz around them. You could definitely feel that AFI was about to get huge. It’s weird how relatively poorly documented those shows seem to be online. I am fairly sure that one of my friends had a typed setlist from the soundboard from one of them, but he has claimed to not remember having it when I’ve asked him about it in recent years. Wish I had taken it. Ha.
-Got a silver cover copy of the album on release day. Best Buy had it at some “destroy cool independent record stores” crazy sale price, like 5.99 or something. I also grabbed one of the black cover ones at the Pittsburgh show on the tour, which I still have sealed. The LP version and Clandestine didn’t come out until a bit later, if I recall correctly.
@LordOfTheLeftHand damn, you bring back memories.
Yes, the LP came out later. I’ll screen cap what I found last night. It’s SICK to know that the DOUBLE LP was only $12 when it came out.
Haha, dude, I know! And to go along with that, check out this display of dumb luckbox AFI fan privilege:
I actually stumbled across it used not long after it came out. I left the price tag on it. 10.00!!!
Makes me wanna go to local record shops and take a peak… I might have to on Thursday, lol.
I got lucky with the vinyl (although not as lucky as $10) about 8-9 years a go when Interpunk found a random box of them in their warehouse. Think it was still reasonable (about £30 inc shipping from the states). Thankfully was just before the vinyl boom started
Wow… interpunk… holy shit. I totally forgot about them…
Sealed Clandestine is <3.
I remember getting mine at Circuit City. I still actually have it in the bag it originally came in with the partially faded receipt.
Nice STS collection!
