The Used with Red Sun Rising and The Fever 333 at CMW 2018
Canadian Music Week 2018 continued on Tuesday night at The Phoenix Concert Theatre with loud music and a loud crowd ready for action.
The Used came to Toronto as they continue to tour their latest album, The Canyon, and for me, it brought a chance to relive some of my early-20s while watching the band show everyone that they’ve never stopped moving forward.
As fans, we talk about the ability music has to take us to a different time and place, or even just remove us from our lives at any given moment. That happened on Tuesday night for me. As a 36-year-old dude with grey in his beard and a newborn at home, I was able to slip back into some younger days when The Used were releasing their 2002 self-titled debut and their 2004 follow-up, In Love And Death. It was loud, it was familiar, it was a trip back to some really great times with great people.
It was what we love best about live music.
The show started with The Fever 333 playing their very first Toronto show. The trio out of Inglewood, California came north with the intent to spread their music and message. And it worked.
With a balls-to-the-wall, punch in the face, heavy, loud, all-in effort that held up through their set, vocalist Jason Aalon Butler introduced The Fever 333 to Toronto in a big way. And it wasn’t just on stage. Early in the set Butler jumped down into the photo pit, hopped the barrier, and started his own mosh pit on the floor of The Phoenix. Fans joined him, and with his mic still in hand, he pushed his way through bodies and the song.
Later, when the thought of his first trip to the floor seemed like the wildest thing he’d do, Butler came down again. But this time, the powerhouse frontman went all the way to the back of the room and up the stairs to the balcony of the club. It was intense and awesome.
Hearing The Fever 333 live, listening to them sing and play with a blend of punk rock and hip-hop reminded me of hearing Rage Against The Machine for the first time as a young teenager. And that’s not a bad thing to be reminded of.
The middle slot in the Tuesday night show went to Akron, Ohio’s Red Sun Rising. And they nailed it.
The five-piece rockers filled the stage, and from the start of their set to the end they were on their game.
Playing the second Toronto show of their career, the band provided a more straight-ahead rock and roll vibe, rolling with two and sometimes three guitars, to go with a tight rhythm section that kept the groove. As the night went on and the crowd grew, they kept right on going, giving every single person on the floor a reason to move their bodies, clap their hands and rock right along with them.
With a new album, The Thread (March 30, 2018) available now, Red Sun Rising has a busy tour schedule ahead of them this summer. And if the crowds in Bristow, Atlanta, Syracuse and more get the kind of show that Toronto got – everyone is going to keep going home happy.
The Used headlined Tuesday night in every sense of the word. They came on last, they drew the crowd, their t-shirts could be seen all over the club, and the buzz in the room was theirs.
It was easy to see that The Used brought fans that have been there since 2002 out to The Phoenix for this show. But what was just as cool was the younger generation of fans that have clearly found the band in more recent years, and love them just as much.
Bert, Jepha, and Dan were ready for Toronto, and with a mix of tracks from The Canyon and the rest of their library, the party was on.
Things picked up early when The Bird And The Worm came second in the setlist and the nostalgia got hot. The singing along was loud, the dancing and bouncing in the crowd increased, and there was a sense that things were really kicking off now. It wasn’t long after that the crowd surfers starting flowing overhead, and for the rest of the night, the vibe was set.
Those feelings kept coming as the boys rolled through their set. And moments like I Caught Fire and Buried Myself Alive were everything I wanted and needed in the night to take me where I wanted to go.
It has been 16 years since The Used burst onto the scene, and while a lot has changed in that time, they’re still here, doing what they do, what they love, and rocking out with their fans.
The Used at The Phoenix Concert Theatre, Canadian Music Week 2018
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