THE USED AT THEATRE OF LIVING ARTS IN PHILADELPHIA

It is no surprise that rock band, The Used, sold out their Philadelphia show at the Theatre of Living Arts so quickly, and it’s no surprise that attendees of the show had a wild night. For this tour, the aim was to play smaller venues, so while I was surprised to see TLA amongst the list, I was still pretty excited.

I have never seen The Used play a headlining show, only festival sets, so I couldn’t wait to see what they would pull out for this. I was pretty pumped to see that the stage setup was simple and open. This to me is usually a sign that I should be ready for a band that moves around freely, and that was certainly the case here. Front man, Bert McCracken, delivers a performance that’ll knock your socks off as he dashes around the stage. That energy is matched by guitarist Joey Bradford and bassist Jeph Howard. Even drummer, Dan Whitesides, can be seen with some animated movements as much as he can from behind the kit. The band opened up with “I’m a Fake” and played through hits such as “The Bird and the Worm”, “The Taste of Ink”, and “Blow Me”. They even had a special guest join them on stage a couple times, Saxl Rose. Many in the pop punk scene know the saxophonist from his feature with Neck Deep for “In Bloom”. It was great to see him accompany the band on stage and I think it really added an extra layer to the performance. A big plus for this tour is that the band is pulling out some songs they haven’t done in a while for each stop. You never know what your stop is going to get, but Philly was lucky enough to hear “Sound Effects and Overdramatics” and “Lunacy Fringe”.

Seeing the way the band interacted with the crowd was great. Bert McCracken bantered with the audience in such a silly way, always getting a good laugh out of fans. At one point, a small child was brought on stage and he encouraged the audience to crowd surf her for her first time. This was such a remarkable moment. He also brought a young woman on stage who had thrown gloves up earlier in the night and started a chant for her name after dedicating their closer, “A Box Full of Sharp Objects”, to her.

Like I said earlier, I’ve never seen The Used outside of a festival, but color me impressed. When they finished their set I just wanted more. The band will be releasing a new album in April titled Heartwork, and I can’t wait to see how they make those new tracks come alive on the stage next time they tour.