Pushing a mix of cuts off the new "Crash Love" CD and older stuff, AFI rocked Water Street Music Hall Friday night with a full-throttle set and a lightshow that would give the planetarium penis envy.

Singer Davey Havok has changed since I saw him rock Darien Lake two years ago in his quasi-gender ambiguity. Homeboy got a haircut and some new moves. The coif was pure Elvis - skinny, pre-Army, pre-jumsuit Elvis - and his suit kind of Sha Na Na. It sort of distracted from the band's somewhat dark leanings, which I had frankly found a little distracting previously. Havok's on-stage demeanor was dramatic and intense and somewhat Pentecostal. He was riveting, and his voice came across strong and decipherable. And the rabid faithful hung on every prayer. The band laid down a great set.

And here's where I come clean once again. I'm opinionated, I like what I like, and am quick to holler "Bullshit!" when I smell it. But I'm also sometimes a little too quick to judge, and I'm working on that. For instance, I couldn't have given a good goddamn about AFI; I was there to hear the other act, Gallows. But I gave AFI a shot - myself too, I suppose - and wound up seeing a great show I otherwise might have missed. See? I feel better already.

There was no way in hell I was going to miss Gallows since I'd been bowled over by the band's classic hardcore-infused new core at this past summer's Warped Tour. It's a nice mash-up of Black Flag, Minor Threat, Bad Brains-era reactionary rock with some of the younger sounds that cross into metal and hard rock, with perhaps a little more precision. Singer Frank Carter sang (howled?) one tune on stage and then dove into the middle of the crowd for the remainder of the show, where he conducted the moshing, a circle pit, and even a human pyramid while liberally throwing the finger and spitting in the air.

The rest of the band on stage spent the majority of the time airborne, as if they were in a kung-fu movie. Gallows played mostly stuff from its new "Grey Britain" record, to the obvious disappointment of a few in the crowd. Regardless, it was a great - albeit oddly paired - set.