Three Nights of Healing our Bleeding Hearts in Detroit: A Nostalgic Journey through The Used’s First Three Albums on their 25th Anniversary Tour
For three nights at the beginning of April in Detroit, elder emos and the next generation fans of the greatest band of all time screamed until our lungs gave out, not out of anger or rage but out of remembering the feelings we have had since The Used debuted their first album back in 2002. Every song The Used played on each night took us through a cathartic journey through the teenage heartbreak, buried grief and trauma, and the strange comfort of feeling every single emotion all at once. These three nights weren't just concerts, they were rituals.—arelease. For many of us who have been around since Day 1, it felt like coming home to the songs that held us together when nothing else could. A return to when it felt like our lives were falling apart, and we relied on the music of one emo band to keep us going. Here is how The Used turned nostalgia into healing, one album at a time.
“Savor Every Moment of This”: The Used
On Thursday, April 3rd, the energy was electric. The blocks-long line hugged the side of The Fillmore Detroit, everyone aching to feel all the feelings the first album brings. Hearing this album played in full, in track order, felt like being transported straight back to the raw chaos and emotion of 2002- but with the clarity and perspective of everything I have lived through since. That album was the soundtrack to so much of my youth, and to experience it like that, live and uninterrupted, was powerful beyond words. Even more meaningful is the fact that the first time I ever experienced them live was in November of 2002 at this exact venue (formerly known as “State Theatre”). To be back in that venue feeling it all raw from the pit and screaming every word along to songs such as “Maybe Memories”, “Box Full of Sharp Objects”, “The Taste of Ink”, “Blue and Yellow” as well as a personal favorite “Pieces Mended” (including the rest of the tracks on the album that started it all) more than two decades later in the same space, felt like a full circle moment- loud, cathartic and deeply personal.
Night one began with a high-energy pop-punk band hailing from Detroit, called Unwell. They got the energy started in The Fillmore, amping everyone up for the main act with their heavy
sound and charging across the stage much like a headliner would. That was my first experience with them, and it most certainly wouldn't be my last. Following Unwell, a white curtain was draped across the entire stage, the projections flickering images and footage from The Used’s past moments in time playing like a film reel of raw memories. The crowd against the barricade stood motionless, locked in, hearts pounding, waiting for that curtain to drop. Mine was racing too. I’ve seen The Used more than a dozen times in the last two decades, but this night felt different. I was witnessing them from a new perspective, yet feeling that same electric pull I did when their debut album and singles first hit. As the curtain fell, the screams intensified, and Bert McCracken stepped into the spotlight with a sense of pride, returning to one of the original cities they had played countless times before. Despite lineup changes over the years, the band gave their everything that night and have never given up. The performance was nostalgic, raw, and powerful- a gift to the elder emo generation and a thunderous welcome to the next. A night to remember and that no one wanted to end.
“I’ll Be Just Fine, Pretending I’m Not”: In Love and Death
While Detroit outside the venue was bustling on Night two of the 25th Anniversary Tour with multiple events, The Fillmore was being packed to the last row of the balcony for a sold-out experience for the second album by The Used: In Love and Death. Saturday’s high-octane opener was a band hailing from Wisconsin, Archers. This was my first experience with this band, which was full of energy and stellar sound. They started the show with an adrenaline-fueled set that created the tone for the evening- one that would be full of energy and excitement. By the time The Used took over the stage, the crowd was primed and electric. Knowing that In Love and Death was an album close to Bert and the band’s heart as well as everyone else’s in that room, expectations for an incredible evening were high, and no one left with disappointment. Hearing In Love and Death performed in full was an emotional gut punch in the most healing way. The first three songs were a rollercoaster of feelings and emotions, and a heavier start, beginning with “Take It Away”. Each track, from the haunting lyrics of “I Caught Fire” to the unfiltered and raw grief of “Hard to Say” rushed back as Bert (vocals), Jeph (bass), Joey (guitar) and Dan (drums) poured every ounce of themselves into this set- turning nostalgia into a healing journey like no other- ripping open those old wounds of yesteryear under the bright lights, screams and tears and finally letting them breathe.
Bert didn’t sugarcoat how meaningful this album has been to him and his healing. The unguarded and vulnerable performances were not lost on the sold-out theatre that Saturday evening, with tears streaming down the faces of people who were letting their guard down with strangers and claiming the show as a personal therapy session minus the copay. The energy of the band matched the first evening, as they appeared humbled and grateful for the sold-out crowd in Detroit. Crowdsurfers were being carried to the barricade in droves, even during the slower anthems, and Bert pulled a young girl no older than ten “Avery” from the crowd on stage to sing along to “Yesterday’s Feelings”- showing that elder emo parents were sharing their hearts and exquisite music taste with their children. The evening ended with a high-energy
and a strangely poetic, brutal, chaotic anthem with “I’m a Fake” while the crowd and Bert screamed back and forth in unhinged harmony about self-hatred and impostor syndrome. As it ended, heart-shaped confetti poured from the sky in an unforgettable and explosive conclusion to the evening. My heart was racing before and after the show as it quickly went down in history as one of my all-time favorite performances of theirs.
“I’m Not Alright When you Go, I’m Not Fine”: Lies for the Liars
The final night of the three-day stint in Detroit began with a bang of theatrics- The Funeral Portrait opened for the evening with all of the campy chaos you could ask for in an opening band, the perfect prelude of what was to come. Following their delightfully unhinged and exciting show, the stage was then transformed with its ritual of a white sheet and footage from the era of Lies for The Liars past. The dropping curtain exposed a transformed set that felt like something out of a fever dream- Bert standing facing a larger-than-life “Chadam,” the chaos of the Lies for The Liars cover art hanging above the raised platform with the drums. The stage was now home to the twisted, full of manic energy and dramatic flair, setting the tone for the band to unfold their third album in all its unhinged and beautiful glory. Songs like “The Ripper”, “Pretty Handsome Awkward,” and “The Bird and The Worm” opened the show, delivered with the kind of precision only The Used could pull off. The band made room for kids from the crowd to join them on stage for a “Dance Party” with one fan dressed as “Chadam” himself, complete with a cardboard box head. It was better than a party- it was a conclusion to the best three days of our lives, where reality took a backseat to the personal escape that was this tour.
As the last notes rang out and the band stood at the edge of the stage to bow to the overwhelming screams from fans of different generations, a quiet ache began to settle within. For me, a fan since the beginning- it was difficult to accept that it had come to an end. The band that kept me alive through painful and traumatic teenage years, where I released my pain in the
mosh pit at their shows as an emo 16-year-old just healed a huge part of that era with three glorious nights of my favorite songs by them with three incredible albums. I brought a teenage version of me to every one of those shows so that she could re-live the energy and healing music that The Used created- I entered every show on this three-day run having sscreamed the entire albums on my long commute in my car, knowing I wouldnt leave a single one of these nights disappointed, but full of life. Walking away from the venue that last evening felt like waking up from the perfect dream that you never wanted to end. While grieving that it was over, you felt a slight wave of jealousy but excitement for the people of Boston who would get to experience it like you just had as the band you have loved for so long brought that same energy and nostalgia to emos of all ages on the East Coast. Three nights of dancing, healing, screaming at the top of our lungs, and forgetting all of that unrest and pain going on in the world so that we could feel alive again in a room full of strangers. This was the tour our souls needed.
