The Used is Touring as a 3-Day Museum of Musical Eras

On April 3, 5, and 6th, The Used hunkered down for a 3-night stay at the legendary Fillmore Detroit. You may ask, what is the draw of doing 3 shows in the same location for fans? Well, of course, album worship! 

 

 

For this particular tour, The Used set out to celebrate their most beloved albums: ‘The Used’ (also known as the self-titled record from 2002), ‘In Love and Death’ from 2004, and 2007’s ‘Lies for the Liars.’ The band packed in fans across 3 evenings to ensure each album was played in its entirety, with no “greatest hits” section packing it in at the end of the night. 

 

 

NIGHT 1: ‘The Used’ from 2002

 

 

 

 

When the set kicked off, we got a primer for what we would see throughout 3 nights in the form of a video intro. This video showcased a tube tv graphic that played footage from that particular era on the curtain, hiding the stage set up. 

 

 

Once “Maybe Memories” kicked in, the crowd went from 0 to 10 with an unhinged nature, crowd surfers launching into the air before Robbie (aka Bert) got his first note out of his throat. The fans atop the hands thrashed and screamed the lyrics, and one woman in particular managed to get McCracken’s attention all 3 nights by surviving the surf during the first track at each show date. 

 

 

‘The Used’ comes out swinging with some of the most iconic tracks, including “The Taste of Ink,” a song that you would probably fit at the end of an encore setlist. We believe anniversary shows should play in chronological order, especially if that album was released on CDs in the 2000’s because we, as fans, know exactly what order these songs play. 

 

 

2002 was like a rocketship for the band, having other highlight tracks on the album that launched them into superstar status, including “Buried Myself Alive,” “A Box of Sharp Objects,’ and “Blue and Yellow.” During that time frame, the artist formerly known as Bert became an icon to many of us Emos, with the scene coming to a head around 2003-2004 of bands similar to the vibe and blueprint of The Used’s sound. And let’s not forget the merch goldmine that was the “Bert is my Homeboy” tee, with his signature long, wet-looking hair. 

 

 

Found at grailed.com

 

McCracken’s drug use, mental health, and much more came up quite a bit within and outside of their songs. Robbie openly admitted on the Fillmore stage that “Bulimic” was about “throwing up his food. In the online archives, “Buried Myself Alive” was described by McCracken as “about a girl. It’s about drugs. It’s about loss. It’s about being alive, about living.”

 

 

The Used hit the festival circuit with shows like Warped Tour and Ozzfest, as well as supporting a tour with Blink-182’s Tom Delonge and Travis Barker as Boxcar Racer. They also managed to make a lot of waves with the MTV and Fuse generations. 

 

 

These layers along with this album still stands the test of time. It doesn’t sound aged in the sense sonically, and in our opinion, it still is the basis of the foundation for the band as a whole. 

 

 

NIGHT 2: ‘In Love and Death’ from 2004

 

 

 

 

‘In Love and Death’ is a heavy record, both in sound and in message. On Night 2 of the Fillmore Detroit date, McCracken told the crowd that this album is his favorite one to play of all 3 nights. It shows, as the potency of the delivery is intense, dramatic, and reaches into the depths of your soul if you’re paying close attention. 

 

 

This album recording had its own struggles. According to Wikipedia, the band worked with producer John Feldmann, which turned out to be a stressful situation overall. It says, “Throughout most of the sessions, the band members argued about the album’s direction, and had a confrontation with Feldmann on multiple occasions.” 

 

 

They also mentioned that 2 of McCracken’s close friends died during the sessions, which included his ex-girlfriend Kate, who was pregnant with his child. “Prior to her death of a drug overdose, the pair had split up but ‘decided to keep the baby and try to stay friends and work it out.’” Her death had a significant impact on how the album came out as a whole. 

 

‘In Love and Death’ sold 93,240 copies in its first week, charting at number 6 on the Billboard 200, and is still regarded as one of the cornerstone albums in the Post-Hardcore, Screamo, and Emo subgenres of Rock. 

 

Fans were elated for this album, coming with the heaviest of hitters, including “Take It Away,” “I Caught Fire,” “Let It Bleed,” and “All That I’ve Got” smashed together at the front of the release, with other tracks toward the back half being sonically epic like “Soudn Effects and Overdramatics” or different than what we’re used to hearing from the band like “Lunacy Fringe” which have elements of violin and/or cello. 

 

The main question on everyone’s minds? “Did they play the ‘Under Pressure’ cover?” Sadly, no. But let’s be honest, if The Used were ever to play that track live, it should have been at When We Were Young with Gerard Way… Which didn’t happen (and if you need a primer on why there’s some inference of tea, refer to TikTok, but they’re friends again, maybe now?). 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NIGHT 3: ‘Lies for the Liars’ from 2007

 

 

 

 

 

This album, despite being a solid release, may be the weakest out of the three albums in terms of heavy hitters. If you’re a die-hard fan though, you’ll take any opportunity to see The Used perform. 

 

 

‘Lies for the Liars’ is more of a “deep cut” listen, with tracks that stand out like “Liar Liar (Burn In Hell), but the most memorable tracks off the album to the mainstream audience are “The Bird and The Worm” and “Pretty Handsome Awkward.” 

 

 

If you watched the TikTok I previously referred to, you will already know of the rumor that “Pretty Handsome Awkward” was written about Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance. McCracken previously denied this, but it seems to have been confirmed over time, citing that Robbie mentioned this on stage at a performance. 

 

 

The Used had some lineup changes during this time frame, with drummer Branden Steineckert being kicked out of the band, and according to Wikipedia, Dean Butterworth of Good Charlotte recorded the drums for the album.

 

 

When photographing concerts, the photographers are usually allotted to capture the first 3 songs of the set. When your first 3 tracks are some of the best on the album, it makes it even more creatively in-tune to observe and create with what you’re seeing. Each night, the stage was adorned with a different backdrop or sculpture to signify which album was being played, and while “The Bird and The Worm” is blasting in your eardrum while the boxed character created by Alex Pardee hangs above drummer Dan Whitesides’ kit and lights up, it’s hard to not feel like you’re having an extra-ordinary experience. 

 

 

 

Is Nostalgia Worth It?

 

 

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A post shared by AMI NICOLE ACRONYM 📸 [DN: amy cooper] (@acronymis)

 

 

 

Every time a tour is celebrating x amount of years for a specific album, you’ll hear people on both sides. “Nostalgic money grab” or “hell yeah, sign me up.” But let me clear this up for you now. Looking back is a great way to celebrate the path that happened to get to this moment. Looking forward without remembering where you came from can be a trap. History, doomed to repeat itself. The Used? Never repetitive, always reinventing.

 

 

Over the years, The Used has put out several more albums, with songs cracking the shell of a world digitally enhanced to find any song they use at the tip of their fingers. “Blood on My Hands” from 2009’s ‘Artwork,’ “Blow Me” from 2021’s Heartwork’ with Jason Aalon Butler, and off their most recent album ‘MEDZ,’ the track “People are Vomit” are a few that we think you should check out if you haven’t.

 

 

The further we get from these 3 particular albums being celebrated by The Used, the more we realize how much it still dominates their catalog in comparison to the other albums. In June 2023, The Used performed at GLC Live at 20 Monroe in Grand Rapids, Michigan, and the setlist contained many tracks mentioned previously as focus tracks for each album on this tour. However, we rarely get to see a band go back to its roots completely and play songs that we’ve either never seen before live, or didn’t hold enough merit for the band to slip it in on a previous tour setlist. 

 

 

Maybe it’s our culture of acting “like we don’t care” that creates naysayers of these types of shows. There’s such a discrepancy on whether you should wear the band’s merch to the band’s show, so surely, we can’t celebrate being a FAN, can we? But these shows are truly for the true fans only. 

 

 

In the case of The Used? Totally worth the 3-night splurge. I walked out on the other side of these three shows with a new appreciation for the foundational material. And as the “elder emos” prove time and time again, paying for these types of shows, they want to relive those songs again. How’s that saying go from ‘Futurama?’’ Shut up, and take my money!