By Mia Deacon
I still remember the first time I heard the Used. I was twelve, caught in that phase of life where you're just beginning to figure out who you are, exploring new interests and identities like every other preteen. That’s when I first stumbled upon the Emo and Pop Punk subculture, and I was instantly captivated. It felt like I had found a space where all my totally unwarranted angst and confusion could be understood. Suddenly, everything I talked about revolved around this world—whether it was obsessing over Pete Wentz, dissecting the lyrics of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, or debating which band poster I should cover my childhood bedroom walls with. The first song I ever heard by the Used was their cover of “Under Pressure” with My Chemical Romance, and that’s when my admiration for the band truly began—a love that would follow me well into adulthood. To this day, I still scream the lyrics, “It’s four o’clock in the fucking morning!” at the top of my lungs whenever “The Taste of Ink” comes on in my car.
When I heard that the Used were performing at Marathon Music Works in Nashville with Plain White T’s and Raue, a wave of nostalgia washed over me. It wasn’t necessarily the twenty-year-old me who felt the excitement; it was that twelve-year-old version of myself, with my hair violently parted to the side wearing a Hot Topic band tee. I knew I had to see them live.
I attended the concert with my close friend Stella. One thing I noticed was that we were both significantly younger than most of the audience. The room was packed with fans wearing all sorts of the Used merchandise, some vintage, which made me smile. I even had the chance to chat with a few fans, and they reminisced about their experiences seeing the band perform at Vans Warped Tour in 2002.
Kicking off the show was Raue, a duo formed in Santa Cruz, California in 2020. They started the night strong, and the energy was intense from the very first song—so much so that drummer Jax Huckle’s cymbal literally flew off during the performance. Their sound was raw, grungy, and intense. Their rendition of Radiohead’s “Creep” was unique, and lead singer Paige Kalenian’s vocals captivated the entire audience, evoking similar energy of influential ’90s rock bands like Hole or Nirvana.
After a brief intermission—and a quick stop at the Daddy’s Dogs hot dog booth—Plain White T’s took the stage. Lead singer Tom Higgenson was full of energy, jumping around with his yellow Fender Telecaster in hand. By now, the concert hall was packed, and Higgenson’s stage presence was electrifying. His stage work was effortless, even pointing the mic toward the audience to let fans sing along to hits like “1, 2, 3, 4” and “Our Time Now”.
The band brought another wave of early 2000s nostalgia in a totally unexpected way. Performing an acoustic version of “Hey There Delilah”—a song with over a billion
streams on Spotify that you quite literally couldn’t escape when it first came out—as the entire room sang the lyrics back to them. It was one of those rare, collective moments where the nostalgia and emotion felt tangible. But just when we thought the night couldn’t get more surreal, Tom Higgenson announced, “We have a very special guest,” and out walked none other than Shrek himself... or rather a man in a poorly made Shrek costume. The band and “Shrek” joined in for an extra chorus, bringing their show to an end.
The Plain White T’s show was wholesome, lighthearted, and quirky—qualities that feel rare in modern concerts—and I think it made everyone feel like we were reliving our adolescence, letting go and just having fun like we used to. With Raue’s youthful angst-filled chords and harsh guitar tones, the opening acts set an ideal stage for the Used, creating the perfect balance of energy that everyone was yearning for all night.
While waiting in front of the barriers, my anticipation was at an all-time high. I could feel myself slightly shaking as I watched the stagehands remove the curtain, revealing the stage setup for the Used. Suddenly, the lights dimmed, and the crowd erupted in cheers. Out walked the band, and the screams from the audience were on the brink of deafening. Then, there he was—Bert McCracken, standing at the front. His hair was now short, and he was noticeably older than I remembered from the days when I first discovered the Used. He was almost unrecognizable until he began singing the lyrics to “Pretty Handsome Awkward”. To my surprise, his voice sounded exactly as it did on the album recorded nearly twenty years ago. The cord from the microphone wrapped around his hand like it was still 2005, a quintessential pop-punk move.
At that moment, I finally understood the indescribable feeling I had felt all night. The band was older, I was older, and everyone in the crowd had aged too, yet deep down, we were still those same kids or teenagers, lost in the music we loved. Throughout the night, I had conversations with a handful of fans, and the most common theme was reminiscing about the memories tied to these songs and how the band impacted them. At one point, I noticed that a woman in the crowd was hysterically crying when McCracken announced they were celebrating the twentieth anniversary of their album In Love and Death. “Tonight, we are playing a song we never play,” McCracken said into the mic as the crowd screamed with excitement. “This song is called ‘Light With A Sharpened Edge’.”
The Used’s performance was phenomenal, with Bert McCracken ending the show by tossing roses into the crowd. For a few hours, the weight of corporate jobs, taxes, and the everyday burdens of adulthood seemed to vanish, transporting us back to the bittersweet simplicity of our youth—ironically, a time when all we wanted was to grow up. When I finally got home, I found myself in my adult bedroom—no posters on the
wall, no band memorabilia in sight—yet I was still quietly mumbling the words to “The Taste of Ink”... “Now I’m ready to be free!”
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