LIVE FROM THE PIT: The Used, Winona Fighter and Lacey

It feels like yesterday since The Used started touring and released their now staple albums in the emo culture, yet the band is officially celebrating their twenty-five-year anniversary and decided to play their hit-albums The Used, In Love and Death and Lies For The Liars at special shows across the world. One night, one album, millions of memories from their now elder emo fans, who all showed up at the concert excited for their favourite band’s accomplishments.

At their sold-out show at The Dome, London, The Used were supported by the amazing Lacey and Winona Fighter.

Lacey had a rough start to their set, as the venue was only half-full and many fans were not really engaging during the performance, resulting into the band’s lead singer Graham Turner encouraging the crowd multiple times to sing and dance around. Nonetheless, the Nottingham-based band put on an impressive performance with catchy lyrics, energetic riffs and precise drumming. Although having to encourage the crowd a lot, in the end, they received their well-deserved applause, indicating that the fans enjoyed their opening performance.

Right after the first opener, it was time for the full-force Winona Fighter to make the audience move around and get them ready for the headliner, and they managed to do their task without a single issue. The band played their sold-out headliner show the day before the concert and still managed to put on a flawless performance tonight. From the first second, their set was extremely energetic and contagious, forcing the fans naturally to enjoy it, however the vocalist Coco Kinnon kept hyping up the crowd throughout their set, which paid off when the band played their cover of “Song 2” from Blur, and suggesting moshpits, which finally happened right before the last song. Both the fans and the band enjoyed their swift set full of screaming and shouting, and they were definitely a perfect pick for the second supporting act.

After making the crowd even more excited for the main act, it was finally time for The Used to come out and play their acclaimed album Lies For The Liars in full. From the first note, the atmosphere in The Dome changed and was very emotional, both with joy and sadness, as many fans listened to the band in their teen years and reminisced about the time. Playing the album in the original order, the band’s set was one of the shorter ones, yet there were some memorable moments in between such as Bert McCracken’s emotional speeches about their past and inviting few fans on the stage to sing one of their hits “Paralyzed” with them. The crowd was not deprived of fun, as there were crowdsurfers present the whole evening, and at some point balloons flying left and right above the head of the audience, who was more than happy to send them over to someone else. Finish off the set emotionally with song “Smother Me”, which is one of their slower songs, the band showed appreciation for every single person present in the venue, who supported them on their twenty-five-years long journey.

The whole night was a celebration of a successful band, who rightfully deserves the recognition, and is one of the pillars of the emo culture, who is more than appreciative of it. Choosing Lacey and Winona Fighter as the support acts for this special night was a perfect opportunity to introduce and showcase the new generation of the genre’s prominent performers to the audience and The Used did not disappoint with their picks. Here’s to other twenty-five-years and more!

Words: Katerina Stepanikova

Photos: Ben Blisset