A wet and cold Friday night in December is usually not when I like being in Cardiff but I made an exception to see The Amity Affliction for the third time this year.
It was strange to be back at Y Plas to see Amity as this was a venue I saw them on the Kerrang! tour back in 2017 and it was almost six years to the date for that show too.
First up was Mugshot who in all honesty I wasn’t much of a fan of as it’s just not really my cup of tea. They didn’t sound bad at all, I just prefer a bit more melody. But the crowd were really into it with the first pits opening up almost immediately.
Alphawolf were up next and they definitely had the best pits all the way through the set. They sounded great and it was a set I enjoyed even though I’d not really listened to them before.
I was quite excited for Comeback Kid and they didn’t disappoint at all. A great band to act as main support as they got the crowd hyped up, singing along.
The main event of course was The Amity Affliction. It was the third time I’d seen them this year (after Bristol in January and at Download in June) and it was probably the worst of the three times in 2023. But before anyone comes at me for that, it was through absolutely no fault of their own. It was all to do with how the sound was set up. It had been quite dodgy throughout the night but it was most noticeable when Amity were on stage.
Unless you were in the immediate vicinity of the stage (which we were by the end of the set after moving around a few times), the sound was at times muffled, with us barely being able to make out the first two songs due to the way the sound was at our initial location.
But when we did move, it was clear that Amity put on a very good show as usual, Ahren’s voice was absolutely dreamy and the passion from Joel both during his vocals and his overall stage presence was clear. There was a range of hits from across their career including Pittsburgh, Open Letter and IVY (Doomsday) and a number of songs from latest album Not Without My Ghosts including the titular track and It’s Hell Down Here.
I definitely think if it was at a different venue (as there have been many complaints about the sound during different gigs at Y Plas) or they just worked in the sound a bit better, then it would have been one of the better shows of the year. But as an Amity fan, I would take any chance I can to see them and still enjoy it.