Jul 11

A Parent's Perspective "THE USED” Show Review 7/8/2024

Last month, acclaimed emo rock quartet The Used dropped their B-Sides album entitled MEDZ, a long EP of deep cut tracks that have been on the back burner. The Used is also on the road this summer and this coming fall on two headlining tours.

The Used just kicked off their summer headlining tour joined by special guests Story Of The Year and Amira Elfeky, and come the fall, they’ll be hitting the road with Plain White T’s and Ruae.

I had a chance to check out The Used, Story Of The Year, and Amira Elfeky on their Pittsburgh, PA date, and here’s how it went!

JULY 8th, 2024 PITTSBURGH, PA: THE USED, STORY OF THE YEAR and AMIRA ELFEKY rolled into the city of Pittsburgh PA to the STAGE AE venue, smack dab in the middle of the city.

Next to the venue of STAGE AE is PNC PARK, the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates, where earlier in the day The Used had the opportunity to throw out the first pitch of the Pirates home game against The Marlins, where by the way, Pirates beat Marlins 8-7.

With the doors opening at 6:00 PM, we entered the indoor/outdoor venue which I’ve talked about extensively in the past about it’s amazing outdoor venue in the summertime and the indoor venue in the winter. Tonight’s show was inside, which was nice because it’s been so humid in PA as of late.

At a sharp 7 pm the show started with opener AMIRA ELFEKY whose set was the perfect fire starter for the night. I’ve never seen the band before. Amira, who the band is named after,

has an angelic voice while her band is a melodic hardcore landscape of alternative rock music and metal with a splash of screaming in the mix for good measure.

After a brief intermission STORY OF THE YEAR was up next. The band has been killing it this year on their own headlining tour celebrating the 20 year anniversary of their legendary album “Page Avenue” which the band has been playing from front to back, which I thought we were going to get when they started out with the first track from that album And The Hero Will Drown but then they kicked into THE ANTIDOTE from their 2008 record The Black Swan.

They continued with fan favorites, ANTHEM OF MY DYING DAY, TEAR ME TO PIECES, before finishing off with their staple track UNTIL THE DAY I DIE.

Last but not least was THE USED. The band played for almost two hours with nearly two dozen songs, kicking off the night with PRETTY HANDSOME AWKWARD from their LIES FOR THE LIARS album.

I loved how they played some deep cuts from this record like SAY DAYS AGO off of their self-titled album and LISTENING from their IN LOVE AND DEATH record.

Speaking of deep cuts the band also pulled out tracks from MEDZ, including the title track, and song FUCK YOU, a previously released stand-alone single that was played after singing “Happy Birthday” to a little girl named Aubrey who was pulled on stage and said “Fuck You” to the audience, a truly punk rock and cute as hell moment.

There were plenty of hits from the nights for fans as well including THE TASTE OF INK, which brought back all of the nostalgic moments of my youth, BLUE AND YELLOW, I CAUGHT FIRE, and THE BIRD AND THE WORM before the band ended the night with “the best song ever” A BOX OF SHARP OBJECTS with a Segway medley of Nirvana’s SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT in the middle.

THE USED has a special place in my heart. They were the first band to introduce me to screaming in music. They made it beautiful and chaotically poetic. Their live shows are something that can only be described by your own experience. And you can do that because they’re on tour now!

THE USED are now on tour with STORY OF THE YEAR and AMIRA ELFEKY!

- You can check out tour dates, photo gallery, and more below!