The Used -15 Year Anniversary Tour – Baltimore, MD – 4.22–23.16

Celebrating a successful 15 years together, The Used packed their gear and hit the road to play 2 nights and 2 albums at each city.  Night 1 consisting their self titled album, and night 2 consisting ‘In Love and Death’ which our photographer, Luis Rosales, was able to provide coverage for night 2.  

Joining the tour was The New Regime from San Diego, CA to open each night.  After getting a few kinks figured out from night 1, they were able to perform their full set starting promptly at 8, and playing until 9.  Being that lead singer/guitarist Ilan Rubin played drums for bands such as Nine Inch Nails and Paramore, they had fans that were already familiar with them, but you could tell who the new listeners were who turned into fans quickly. The New Regime’s alternative rock sound was easy for fans to get into yet unique where you could tell it was influenced by several sounds. Overall a great performance by The New Regime that built a new fan base in both nights they were there.

Up next was The Used to play the second night with ‘In Love and Death’ which was amongst a fan favorite.  It was only right to have the theme of the stage to be the album cover and having a giant glowing heart dead center of the back drop was the cherry on top.  With all the production on stage, they had phenomenal lighting and were extremely visible from every angle.  The combination of the light beams with no front lighting made for great silhouettes at times, but the use of strobes, back lights and front white light made for idea conditions to watch and shoot.  Bert McCracken was very interactive with the fans during his performance, going as far as pointing out fans whenever he saw something he liked and even starting a few circle pits.  The intensity of his performance almost brought him to tears during a few songs and even few fans.  Their performance was powerful in every way, whether it was slowed down or fast paced, everyone in the venue was touched in some way through the music.  It was nice having a band play all their older material like The Used did, especially in a 2 night series.  This is the tour that you do not want to miss for the remainder of the dates.