I travelled to Sweden last month to cover The Used’s well waited return to Europe and the UK. The bunch of photos we present here can speak for itself for the high energy onstage, all the colorful lights that filled the venue, and the amount of love the audience brought with them to the show. I would like to recap the show with a few more details mentioned here though. Such as the questions of, who opened as support, what happened during the main show, and which songs were played. Follow along for photos and more info.
First off onstage was the Swedish alternative rock group Normandie. A band to look out for as they are releasing a new album at the end of October and having some solid festival appearances plus support slots at the moment. They also did well supporting The Used in Sweden with a good live sound and reaching the crowd.
The Used went on stage with Bert Mccracken on vocals, Jeph Howard on bass, Dan Whitesides on drums, and new member Joey Bradford with them on guitar. After entering the stage in a calm manner and friendly greeting the cheerful people on the floor, the show quickly toke off to greater heights. While photographing The Used I suddenly had Bert jumping right in front of my face in a rush of joy. He was then standing tall above me with hands hold victoriously high toward the ceiling as to lift up the collective concert experience for us there, with the crowd reaching eagerly over my head to join in. All while I could remember to react and laugh of the close encounter. This is so on point with the show. It was unpredictable and most fun.
The entire show went on like this. Bert kept the energy going with the audience while shifting between nearby jumps, headbangs, kicks and sudden shenanigans a plenty. With Jeph and Joey following along. Dan may have been sitting behind the drums in the back of the stage, but he sure showed some quality entertainment and surplus playing the drumsticks with a major ease there.
It was awesome to hear Bert’s characteristic voice unfold in concert, followed up by their top live sound. Must admit I also enjoyed the selected tracks this evening. Some absolute pleasures to hear live were the well-known songs The Taste Of Ink and All That I’ve Got which put the singalong to an extra level. Besides ending the show with a strong version of Smells Like Teen Spirit and so presenting us to the only proper cover of this song, at least I have gotten to know so far. While loving the tunes they shared this fine evening in Sweden I got all confused though as the show went on and no tunes from latest album The Canyon appeared. I had to get my own memory dusted off a bit for the older songs rather than the fresh ones I had just heard on repeat lately.
It was a big surprise that they decided to focus on these older tracks for the setlists throughout the recent European and UK tour, as they got plenty of other top tracks and The Canyon is without doubt worth giving another listen too. On the other hand, it seemed to be a big relief to the fans that they could get to hear the selected tracks no matter where based. Variating covers of Nirvana’s Smell Like Teen Spirit and Linkin Park’s Shadow Of The Day to honour these bands were definitely also well-received treats for the fans.
The band has announced a performance at the metal festival Force Fest in Mexico for October and shows at the Good Things festival tour around Australia for December. I recommend you hit the road for these shows to hear the songs played live and experience their great concert spirit as well, if you are based in these areas.
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Normandie
The Used
| Photos By: Jules Faurschou | Instagram:@twohundredtigersphotos | Exclusively for @Music, Why Not! |
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