Emo icons The Used head into the final week of the Aussie leg of their massive 25th anniversary tour. It’s been a true throwback run, with the band performing their first three albums in full – one each night, in each city. Dates sold out fast, venues were upgraded, and new shows were added, and now we’re in the thick of it – and it’s absolutely glorious.
I snapped up tickets for Brisbane’s first two nights (playing their 2002 self-titled debut and 2004’s In Love and Death respectively) in the pre-sale, and was lucky enough to score review tickets for the final show, featuring 2007 release Lies for the Liars. For a thirty-five year old with a day job that starts at 6am, it was a lot. But the 15 year old emo kid within? Well, she had the time of her life – AND brought back a few life lessons I’d like to share here.
1. Tours headlined by overseas bands need to do their part for the local scene
Support for The Used’s Brisbane run came from Canberra’s own post-hardcore legends, Hands Like Houses. And in an era when legacy bands often just bring more of the same over from the US (not that I’m complaining), they’re a fairly inspired choice, showcasing Aussie music while still hitting the demographic of the room square in the chest. The setlist changed slightly from night to night, with their stunning cover of Chris Isaak‘s “Wicked Game” a staple centrepiece each evening, and their on stage energy was undeniable, setting the crowd up brilliantly for what was to come.
There’s understandably a lot of talk about what we can do to support Aussie bands, from how we discover and listen to music, to who we choose to go see live. And in selecting Hands Like Houses and Heavenshe as their support acts, The Used offered a helpful suggestion for other overseas bands – choose an Aussie act (or two!) to open the show.
Speaking as someone growing up in the era that The Used first came to prominence, and as someone who is currently looking at a calendar filled with co-headline anniversary tours and line-ups stacked with bands supported by their North American peers (think Yellowcard with Motion City Soundtrack and Plain White Ts back in April, The Offspring bringing Simple Plan in May, or the upcoming Mayday Parade tour with Jack’s Mannequin and The Home Team in September), it was so refreshing to see a band choose to showcase Australian talent. Frontman Bert McCracken might have the advantage there over some of his counterparts – he’s based here in Australia, after all – but nudging bands, bookers, and promoters to go local, whether that’s country-wide or city-specific, is one way we can get eyes (or should that be ears?) on Aussie bands.
2. How good is physical media?
The Used’s sets open with a video clip, showing the band around the time of that specific album’s release. It’s suprisingly sweet, and, for some reason, every time we reached the part of the video where the respective album’s CD was shown, complete with lyric booklet, I got a little emotional. There’s just something about physical media that I, for one, can’t quite shake, all the memories attached to going to the music store to pick up that anticipated release, or just to browse for something new, then going home and learning the lyrics from those tiny pages. It’s part of the reason I still reach for my CD and vinyl collections, even in the era of streaming services.
Choosing a physical album to listen to means committing to the whole thing, experiencing something from start to finish without skipping a track or letting an algorithm decide where to go next. And that’s exactly what happened each night when The Used took to the stage, playing tracks many of us will never have heard live before, and bringing the feeling of sitting at home, lyric booklet open, and album blasting to life.
3. Nostalgia is a powerful drug
And I say that with love.
There’s just something about these anniversary and, in particular, these full album shows that’s really scratching an itch right now – and also convincing those of us that really shouldn’t be going back into the pit that it’ll be fine and we’ll get through work tomorrow.
The fact that sales for the shirt for the first album needed to be limited each night said it all – as does the fact that I’m already trying to usher in some thumb holes on my tour hoodie (IYKYK): we all just want to find that feeling again, the moment when the song just hits and we feel seen. And these shows did just that.
4. The Used might actually be the best band in the world
(Their words, but they might as well be mine)
The Used never called it quits during those 25 years, consistently releasing music even as so many of their musical peers broke up or took a hiatus that looked like it would never end – and it shows in their performance. Everything sounds the way you hope it will, and the sets are tight and polished, even if their music itself evokes a little leftover teenage chaos within.
I distinctly remember hearing someone on the final Brisbane night – after we’d all got a little emotional to “Smother Me” – say “it just looks like they (The Used) are having fun, doesn’t it?” And isn’t that what we’re really hoping for, when we traipse to the Valley on a school night? That when we’re showing up, 25 years later, the bands are having as much fun as we are? That it still matters to them as much as it matters to us? The Used never once left us in doubt that this was the case, and it’s clear that while this might be a milestone tour, it’s far from the last we’ll see – or hear – of the best band in the world.
The Used continue their 25 Year Anniversary tour with dates in Perth and Sydney. Limited tickets remain – head to Destroy All Lines for more info HERE.
Images supplied by PR. Heavenshe – credit to Rhi Venn.
