The Used Celebrate their 25th Year Anniversary of their Album, In Love and Death to a Sold Out Crowd on 4/16/25

Photography & Review by Alyssa Arroyo 

We are. So back. On April 16th, 2025, early 2000’s rock band, The Used, returned to the East Coast at Starland Ballroom in Sayreville, New Jersey with a production larger than ever. In celebration of their 25th year anniversary, the band announced that they would be hitting the road once more touring their three classic albums, “The Used”,” In Love and Death”, and “Lies for Liars”. With the crowd exuding palpable excitement all throughout the night, The Used showed us once again that emo is in fact back. 

To open up the show, the band, In Angles set the tone for what was later to come. With their fresh punk-rock sound, this band really got the crowd moving. They performed heavy hitters such as, “Backbone” and “Trench” and the crowd lit up. Performing just an eight song long setlist, In Angles really knew how to set the scene and warm up the audience for a night full of moshing and singing. With this being my first introduction to In Angles, I was more than pleasantly surprised and was prepared more than ever for The Used to take the stage. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, the time had come. A banner descended from the ceiling and the audience got to watch a short documentary about the band before they arrived on stage. Watching the clips of young lead singer, Bert McCraken, talking about how much he cares about his music captivated the audience in such a beautiful and unique way. The second the band took the stage, the crowd lit up and the room was on fire. This night was particularly special for me because they were playing an album I consider a classic, “In Love and Death”. From what I could see from both pits, this night meant something special to the audience as well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After experiencing my first ever The Used concert I can confidently say that they do in fact, know how to put on a show. From moshing, to cartwheeling competitions in the center of a pit, this show was a never-ending good time. Once my favorite song, “Sound Effect and Overdramatics” was played,I was fully immersed into the show completely. This show is definitely going down as one of my favorite concerts of 2025 so far and I look forward to what The Used has coming next.