The Used is currently playing their 25th anniversary tour, with three shows at The Forum and returning later in the month for another three shows in Northcote, with each performance a play-through of their first, and arguably most iconic, three albums in full The Used/self-titled, In Love and Death and Lies for the Liars.
For the second Melbourne show on Saturday night they played their genre-defining debut album in full. The current band lineup includes vocalist Bert McCracken, bassist Jeph Howard, drummer Dan Whitesides and guitarist Joey Bradford, with McCracken and Howard being the only remaining members who were present during the initial album release.
The 2002 album is considered a genre staple, a necessary part of any ‘2000s emo kid’ toolkit. When the scene was at its peak, The Used was a household name amongst the community, and for a reason. The blend of soft and hard vocals against layered, energetic, and theatrical instrumental backdrops set the sound for The Used to deliver emotional and unique musical storytelling. Their energetic performances secured them as familiar names on the now legendary Warped and Taste of Chaos tours, amongst others.
The very first thing I noticed at this performance, before the band even took to the stage, was the crowd. It was clear the audience was vastly filled with former emo “kids” who have since grown up alongside the band. Overheard discussions of those around me included talk of their children, their careers, homes, etc.
I distinctly recall at my first time seeing The Used in concert in 2010 there being constant crowd surfers, circle pits, walls of death and other general fun chaos. You’d have one eye on the stage, and one eye keeping an eye out for a flying Converse All-Star heading straight towards your skull (with or without a person attached to it). In 2025, the crowd has definitely mellowed in its physicality, but not in its passion for the music and memories. At one point Bert even asked the crowd to make a circle pit and immediately followed up the request with “Let’s all pretend we’re 20 again!”.
The concert began with a small video montage commemorating The Used’s humble beginnings 25 years ago, leading to a focus on the now 23-year-old first album, before a dramatic curtain drop revealed the band on stage, jumping straight into the opening track ‘Maybe Memories’. The second song ‘The Taste of Ink’ was still a clear favourite amongst fans, eliciting high energy and lots of singing along. The song holds a real nostalgic anthem feel about it, and clearly still meant a lot to many of the audience on Saturday night.
A haunting, larger than life version of the recognisable mask from the album cover was revealed and hung over the stage for the rest of the performance. The atmosphere remained energetic for ‘Bulimic’ and ‘Say Days Ago’. ‘Poetic Tragedy’ brought a slower pace to the set followed by the popular single ‘Buried Myself Alive’, a song that, at least for myself, connects the most musically to the soundscape of their sophomore album, In Love and Death.
There was a brief interlude of album tracks that came in the form of a short cover of Nirvana’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’. With barely a breath between songs, the band then launched straight into ‘Blue and Yellow’ and ‘Greener with the Scenery’. Bert introduced ‘Noises and Kisses’ as his favourite song to sing from the record, the key change for the second chorus proved an even more dramatic raise in intensity live than in the record. The lighting design was also perfectly matched to each song, with the slower acoustic track ‘On My Own’ being no exception.
The final album track ‘Pieces Mended’ even included the ‘hidden tracks’ originally found on the record, a novelty for music fans back in the days of physical music media. A recording of ‘Polly’ was played before the band continued their set finishing with the fast-paced and explosive ‘Choke Me’.
Bert showed appreciation for the audience, shouting out the super-fans who have been supporting the band since day one. He also mentioned about how performing some of the songs took him right back to where he was when he first wrote and recorded them. While there is a natural shift of performance style and energy in both the band and the audience, it’s clear the passion and love of the music is stronger than ever. Many of the bands that were around the same time as The Used during the early 2000s, have since broken up or stopped performing, but their evident dedication to performing exemplifies why they are still a mainstay all these years later.
It was quite touching to think back to all the teens and young adults that surrounded me the first time I saw them, and to look around at all the ‘grown ups’ we have since become. In a scene where bands, lyrics, and audience members often discuss mental health struggles, it was touching to see a venue full of adults who made it through, collectively singing along to the lyrics from ‘The Taste of Ink’, “So here I am, alive at last”.
With new band members over the years, an album that’s 23 years old, and a mix of singles and album tracks, it felt like a rare treat to be album to hear this album in its entirety, something that may not happen again in the future.
The Used is currently touring Australia as part of their 25 Year Anniversary Tour, proudly presented by Destroy All Lines. The Used performed their Self Titled album The Used in its entirety at Forum Melbourne on Saturday August 9th and return to Melbourne later in August for another three shows for their first three albums.
For more information and ticketing, visit:
https://www.destroyalllines.com/tours/the-used
https://www.instagram.com/theused
https://theused.net
Photography by Grant Alexander.
