The Used >> took it to Tempe again at Marquee Theatre this weekend. Headlining the Take Action Tour since the beginning of January, last night's stop in the desert marked the tour's 30th leg, lead singer Bert McCracken's 31st birthday and a sellout crowd that was 'definitely 1 of the top 3 loudest' according to the frontman.
Having just re-released Vulnerable with a second disc of bonus material last month, I assumed the evening's setlist would have featured predominantly tracks from said album. But to my pleasant surprise they balanced the love across all LP's quite well playing songs from each throughout the show. I like Vulnerable a lot but I'm a huge fan of the self-titled release and In Love And Death so I'm glad they got to all the best from those.
Bert took stage with a lit cigarette and struck up the band to open with 'Listening' then 'The Bird And The Worm' and 'Put Me Out'. Then he let us know it was his birthday so we could sing 'Happy Birthday' to him. He did this only another 3 or 4 times throughout the show which eventually got old but Bert had a lot of other ad hoc interludes that were pretty funny like telling us that he got a BJ last night from a married chick. His wife. He's a lot funnier than I remember him being the last time at a Used show.
They closed with 'Pretty Handsome Awkward' after directing the venue to part like the Red Sea and reform into a mondo circle pit and exited stage right upon conclusion. The standard commands of an encore ensued and the predictable concession resulted in Bert thanking Tempe/Phoenix for always being one of the best crowds. With that he said they'd play the best song ever and began playing Nirvana's 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' then hit us with the real encore 'A Box Of Sharp Objects'. That was a pretty sick 1-2 punch to knockout a sick sick show overall.
They said they'd be back for Warped Tour. They promised. So I just might have to man up in the 195 degree Phoenix heat and get after it. Let us do this.
marc
