Story by Deb Draisin, photos by Justine Perez

Orem, Utah progeny The Used are currently ringing in a decade and a half of rock n’ roll by undertaking an epic, two night tour per city, each featuring either the albums The Used and In Love And Death in their entirety.

They just concluded a mini-tour to showcase their newly released live album/dvd, Live And Acoustic At The Palace. Jersey Beat was lucky enough to catch them on Night Two of their New York City run at the Playstation Theater.

To say that this show was a “sing-a-long,” as longtime bassist Jepha Howard referred to it, would be an understatement. From start to finish, In Love And Death night at the Playstation Theater was a violently swaying, top-of-the-lungs screaming, bone-crunching pitting, and love-your-brother toasting and grinning event not to be missed by music fans of any genre.

The 2004 album was born during one of the most difficult periods of singer Bert McCracken’s life: his pregnant girlfriend, died of an overdose, and his dog, David Bowie, was hit by a car during the recording. Some of the songs on this album haven’t been played in years, Howard explains, because they evoke such raw emotions in the band.

McCracken stated, at one point toward the end of the set, that Night Two kicked Night One’s ass, which is something that you expect bands to say, however, this assertion was confirmed by several attendees of both nights as we exited the theater.

Something about hearing McCracken say, in quiet voice “Thank you for letting me be myself,” maybe, or hearing the slight tremble as he introduced "Hard To Say," which he deemed particularly personal for him, or just the energy within the crowd as they engulfed each song like an old friend, not to mention the bruising opener of "Take It Away" and surprise encore of "Pretty Handsome Awkward" (from Lies For The Liars,) just made this gig stand out from the sea of gigs that this writer has attended.

That being said, Self-Titled is no slouch, featuring fan favorites "The Taste Of Ink," "Blue and Yellow" and "On My Own."

Sadly, most of the shows along this tour are sold out, but there’s always StubHub if you’ve got the cash – I promise that the shows will be worth the investment.

READ UP, LISTEN UP, WATCH A VID, AND CATCH THEM LIVE:
http://www.theused.net/

GIVE THE BAND A SHOUT:
https://www.facebook.com/TheUsed/info/?ref=page_internal
https://twitter.com/WeAreTheUsed?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author
https://twitter.com/bro_mccracken?lang=en
https://twitter.com/VirtualJepha?lang=en
https://twitter.com/JustinShekoski?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author