THE USED // 15 Years Of Black Ink And Agony, Part I

THE USED with Storm the Sky + Corpus – 170 Russell, Melbourne – 6 December, 2016 – Night 1 

Because we’re adding more content to the world than ever before, anniversaries are like fights with your girlfriend after forgetting to hang up her pants for the gym tomorrow – there’s nothing you can say or do to stop them. The average age of 170 Russell, the rock n’ roll venue with a soul fashioned from stardust and MDMA, verges on double the anniversary age – that being 15. It’s the first of two shows celebrating The Used’s first two albums, and I’m tipping 90% of this crowd will be back tomorrow.

A whole child ago, The Used was the band for the self-isolated and over-emotional. Which is all dandy as a teenager and the universe on a Saturday night is outside, and you’re caged in darkened bedroom purgatory. It’s okay, we get it. It’s all fine. Well, it probably wasn’t back then. We didn’t even have unlimited SMS plans. $30 for like, 60 SMS? Fuck that noise.

Anyway, Bert McCracken strides out into The Taste of Ink, little rest between that and opener Maybe Memories. He tears his Communist mormon heart out in profile, keffiyeh scarf dangling from the mic. Substitute guitar for pensive piano is drowned the hell out by a chorus of voices, chanting every word.

“I’ll savour every moment of this,” he croons. Well you ain’t fuckin’ wrong, Bert. That isn’t a suggestion, it’s a command. Punters are. I’ve never seen a more attentive crowd than this. Apart from the chick in front scrambling to find her friend (turns out she was ejected…for strangling someone) all eyes were up front.

It was hard to pick a favourite, but people lost their absolute shit to Blue and Yellow. There’s no higher honour for an emo wanting to “waste some time with you.” A tribute to the lovelorn in three chords or fewer filled the room in rock anthem perfection. Bert, still side on and crunching down to belt out every note, consumed himself and the band in this album – and you can tell it still does.

As Bert drapes an Aussie flag “that’s meant to divide us” on a kick drum and calls for middle fingers, my +1 for the night rolls her eyes. “Obscene gestures are tacky, but everyone loves it so it’s okay.” Says who? Are you new to this? I’m cocking my head to one side and wagging a condescending finger at her. Actually, that never happened. That last part, I mean.

Say Days Ago weaves a web of creeped out guitar, played with as much passion by new-ish axeman Justin Shekoski, laden with enough arse-kick for the 80s circle pit Bert urges us into. Since it’s only an album’s worth of show, he ramps up the banter to pad the set. “It’s Mel-BUN,” he laughs. “So shouldn’t it be the BUN Identity?” Good one, Dad. UGH

Mellowing out during an unplugged Poetic Tragedy, a whole new world, at least for me, was on display. I may be a bastard-coated bastard, but the whole emo thing is a modern revival of Romanticism – you know, crying at flowers and all that kind of shit.

We used to take the piss out of it, hard. But it’s not that easy to dismiss. All took Bert’s speech on love, letting out anxiety and holding true, to heart. Couples embraced in a slow sway to our melody, even as Justin powered into some big n’ dirty chords. It just washed over them in gentle waves of happiness. It did feel like 2002 again, like the world was ending and beginning, all at the same time.

It was hard to pick a favourite, but people lost their absolute shit to Blue and Yellow. There’s no higher honour for an emo wanting to “waste some time with you.” A tribute to the lovelorn in three chords or fewer filled the room in rock anthem perfection. Bert, still side on and crunching down to belt out every note, consumed himself and the band in this album – and you can tell it still does.

Streaming with pre-fab strings, Greener with the Scenery stood two songs from the end and time seemed to be running out. But that didn’t matter. One girl, sitting on top of some high-backed couches, lost herself in a fog of her own contentment. With eyes half-open, and lips curled into a smile, she recited every note as if bliss visited her every word.

I think that said it all.