I Just Read About That…

[ATTENDED: June 12, 2023] The Used

I didn’t know The Used at all.  Which is crazy since they’ve been around for 20+ years.

My son told me that he was excited to see them as well–there were a few of their songs that he really liked (and he bought a shirt).

Pierce the Veil went off the stage around 7:45 and The Used came on around 8:15.  It seemed like a lot of the (younger, female) crowd left after PTV, but the crowd for The Used was loud and intense as well.

Their stage setup was adorned with flowers–including “picture frames” of flowers that surrounded their amps and drum set.

They came out on stage and lead guitarist Joey Bradford (who joined in 2018) was wearing a butcher’s apron.  Bassist Jeph Howard (who has been with the band since the beginning) seemed to be wearing a pith helmet (or a bucket hat).  I enjoyed his look which to me was quite nerdy and then he would scream some really growly vocals.   Drummer Dan Whitesides (been with the band since 2006) played loud and furious. 

And then there was lead singer Bert McCracken who was funny, had a great singing voice and was a perfect front person.

The band has a new album out but, somewhat strangely, they only played one song from it.  They also played a song that hasn’t been released yet.  It seems that they recorded too many songs for their album and are having a second album coming out in the near future.

Instead, they played a set of old song, which the crowd loved.  They played three songs from their first two albums and two from their third album.

Like Pierce the Veil, they also cut their set shorter (by two songs) because of the weather.  I think the venue wanted everyone out by 9-ish.

The Used play fast and intense emo, a fact that was embraced by McCracken when he said “we’ve been playing emo for 20 years” before launching into a song of off their first album.

“Take It Away” has a loud and fast sing-along (scream-along) chorus.  “The Bird and the Worm” is a quieter song (to start) with a quietly picked guitar part and a big chorus–it had a real My Chemical Romance feel (especially on record where its more orchestral).

And then McCracken told us that he wasn’t allowed to say Fuck from the stage.  So instead he wanted everyone to put up their middle finger and shout “fuck you.”  It was childish but got the crowd pumped.  He then informed is that at a Used show, the middle finger means “I love you.”  This was all a lead in to their new song, “Fuck You.”  Unsurprisingly, it was easy to sing along to as well.

McCracken told all of us to put one arm up.  And then to slowly lower it and put it around the shoulder of the person next to you. It’s all about love at a Used show.  There was no one to my right, but the woman to my left did put her arm around me, which was funny.  She refused to kiss my cheek as he suggested, though.

“I Caught Fire” has a ringing opening riff that the crowd went crazy for.  But it was when they played songs from their debut album.

“The Taste of Ink” is insanely catchy and the woman behind me was singing along very loudly.  So, as with the Pierce the Veil show, I allowed her to go in front of me and we were both much happier.  Especially when they played their big hit “Blue and Yellow.”

There were many compliments for us for rocking out during the crazy rain.  McCracken said that he was performing in his socks (which seems unsafe in the rain) and his feet were now very squishy.

Then he told us that he has battled depression for most of his life.  He said that if there was ever a day when you didn’t feel like getting up, remember that there was someone who loved them–him.  He loved everyone there.  It was rather touching.

Their new album had a song that addressed depression called “Giving Up.”

And I’m done with the misery
Yeah, I’m done faking tragedies
‘Cause I’m not giving up on me

“I’m a Fake” has a lengthy spoken intro which he recited and everyone chanted along with him.  There’s a lot of screaming (mostly from Howard) in this song and by this time the crowd surfing was practically a conveyor belt of people getting pushed to the front of the crowd.

They skipped two songs here (they didn’t tell us their set was being cut short) and then introduced Rob Damiani from Don Broco to sing the wonderfully titled “A Box Full of Sharp Objects.”  Damiani really stood out because hew as the only dry person in view (I don’t think it had rained during the Don Broco set).  He had a powerful voice and a good scream.  He also proved an extra boost of energy as he ran to all sides of the stage to get everyone pumped up.

As the song ended, they segued into a ripping cover of “Smells Like Teen Spirit.”  I was taken out of the show briefly as I realized the crowd was singing along like crazy and it made me remember how important “Teen Spirit” was to me when it came out in 1991 and here it was 30 years later and young people were still into it.  [I didn’t realize they did a cover of it on one of their records].

They ended the set with “Pretty Handsome Awkward,” a song I know my son loves, so I was really happy they played it.  It’s got a killer riff and a big sing-along chorus.

And that was that.  No encores, just everybody fleeing the rain.

I asked my son if he was bummed that the sets were cut short.  He said he didn’t mind all that much because he heard all the songs that he wanted and, it also meant that the show was ending earlier.  The whole show was done by 9 which meant we got home at a fairly reasonable hour.

Plus, we had dry shirts in the car and that made all the difference.

SETLIST (crossed out songs are the ones they had been playing but skipped because of weather).

1. Take It Away ♥
2. The Bird and the Worm £
3. Fuck You §
4. I Caught Fire ♥
5. The Taste of Ink ⊗
6. Blue and Yellow ⊗
7. Giving Up ‰
8. I’m a Fake ♥
   
   Listening ♥
   
   People Are Vomit §
9. A Box Full of Sharp Objects ⊗ > [with singer from Don Broco]
10. Smells Like Teen Spirit (Nirvana cover) [Snippet] 
11. Pretty Handsome Awkward £