The Used and Sleeping with Sirens have teamed up this fall to bring you one of the most bangin kick-ass tours of the year! The Toxic Positivity tour is taking place to celebrate the release of The Used’s 12th full-length studio album. This album is such a phenomenal testament to the talent that is The Used. This band has been around for over 20 years and they’ve proven time and time again that they’re more than capabale of withstanding the test of time. The Used has never once drifted from their signature sound and it carries heavy into their newest album, but enough about that, let’s get onto the show!
On this tour they have the band Dead American – fronted by ex-Saosin vocalist Cove Reber – as a supporting act throughout the entire tour. Dead American hit the stage like a shotgun blast. These guys lit a fire in that venue that was set to burn till the very end of the night. Throughout the set Reber would periodically ask the crowd “what’s the name of my fucking band?” To which the crowd would scream “DEAD AMERICAN!”. (Personally thought this was a genius marketing strategy to make sure people remember the name of your band at the end of the night). I was truly shocked and impressed at how well an opening act could get a crowd riled up and Grady to go. This project has a great sound, much heavier and faster than saison but with Covers signature sound it’s difficult not to hear the similarities between Dead American and his time spent in Saosin. Either way I can see these guys quickly building a large fan base over the next couple years.
After DA left the stage we had an all time favorite for everyone in the emo/pop-punk scene: Sleeping With Sirens. This band has and always will be a staple in our scene and every time I see them they continue to get bigger and better than before. SWS hit the stage and the cried absolutely lost their shit. They opened their set with “Break Me Down” off their 2019 album How it Feels to be Lost. Let me just say that I think that album is extremely underrated and is filled to the brim with absolute bangers! After that we went further back, to 2015, with “Kick Me”. This song is explosive, heavy .and very high energy. This was going to be one hell of a night and SWS was setting it off like the 4th of July. One thing I truly love about this band is their dedication to spreading love, positivity, and mental health awareness. At one point in the set Kellin to a moment to say something to the crowd: “we want you to know that you’re important, that you’re beautiful, that we want you here, and you are special. That shit goes out to all you older Emos that are in the fuckin building too! Trust me when I say, we all have bad days, bad weeks, bad months, terrible bosses, we have shit that goes on at home that we can’t fuckin stand but right here in this fuckin place were can forget about all of our problems and we can have fun listening to music that makes us feel good. If you came here with your best friend tonight, I want you to put your arm around them right now! Your boyfriend, your girlfriend, your mom, your dad, your cousin! We’re all about love in this room Vegas. Now off you know the words to this…sing this shit loud, let’s go…” and went straight into one of their most heartbreaking, yet inspiring songs “Better Off Dead”. They closed out their set with their most popular song by far, “If You Can’t Hang”. Before they played the song, Kellin took a moment to congratulate his best friend (and bandmate) Justin Hills for proposing to his girlfriend that day in Las Vegas (She Said YES!)
Before The Used came out, a white curtain was raised that said “coming up next…The Used”. The house music stopped and the lights went low and that lo-fi intro to “Pretty Handsome Awkward” began to play. As soon as the song hits that first bar of explosive sound the curtain dropped and we were off! For this tour The Used had two large risers on the stage that were covered with white and light pink roses (like from the cover of their new album Toxic Positivity). The mic stands were adorned with roses, and there was a wall of roses that stood behind them as well, with drummer Dan Whitesides on a raised platform in the center. This was a typical Used set filled with fun, laughter, and amazing fucking music. There was a lot of middle fingers, a lot of “fuck you’s”, and a lot of booing. To be clear, people were only booing because at one point vocalist Bert McCracken requested that the audience no longer cheer but boo instead. It was quite the scene to watch such a legendary band be booed like that. The Used played a set of 11 songs with an additional 3 song encore. During their original set one of the things that stuck out to me was when they played “Giving Up”, a song off their new album Toxic Positivity. Bert began with a little speech about mental health saying that if he can find a way to make it through the day then others sure as hell could. This song has such a strong a heartfelt message to those struggling with those intrusive thoughts and toxic patterns of fear and self-loathing. After the song ended, McCracken told the crowd that it was his favorite song he’s ever written. I always love hearing those things from the artists. They ended their night with their song “Box Full of Sharp Objects”, confetti cannons, and roses being thrown to the crowd.
Both Sleeping With Siren and The Used are emo staples. These bands have come to define the genre in so many ways over the last 20 years and, in my eyes, hold the title of “Legendary”. These are bands that have brought nothing but love, and healing to the masses. Being able to experience them together, live, on the same night, at the same show, is beyond amazing. The amount of love flying around that room that night was truly immeasurable and is only something you can experience first hand. These bands make music for the broken, for the used, for the strays, and for those who have never felt like they belong. They’ve given us all hope, and a place, a scene, that we can call home. I hope you get to experience this before this tour is over and if you don’t get a chance to catch them together I hope that you can one day experience the cathartic release that these bands evoke at their shows.
