Live Review: The Used - The Dome, London 22/05/2025
2025 sees 25 years of Utah emo-rock group The Used — feel old yet? — and with it comes a world tour celebrating their first three albums. The Dome in Tufnell was lucky enough to host the first of the UK’s trio of shows, supported by Winona Fighter and Lacey.
The Used, as of last year’s ‘Medz’, now have ten studio albums — but for their takeover of Tufnell’s The Dome, only one mattered. As part of an expansive world tour celebrating their first three albums, it was announced back in December that The Used would finally be returning to Slam Dunk, playing 2004’s ‘In Love and Death’ in Hatfield and 2002’s self-titled ‘The Used’ up in Leeds. But what about 2007’s ‘Lies For The Liars’?
Fear not, fellow fans of the iconic album and the macabre, cube-faced Chadam emblazoned on its art work — ‘Lies For The Liars’ got its own show, an intimate night at Tufnell’s The Dome, supported by Winona Fighter and Lacey. With fans of the band queuing outside from the wee hours of the day, bedecked in a myriad of make-up designs, scene-related merch, and a rainbow of hair colours, you could feel the nervous excitement steadily growing as doors approached.
But, before they could get to ‘Bert and the boys, it was time for the supports. First up were Nottingham rock group Lacey, aiming to win over the crowd with a string of tracks from their 2023 album ‘This Is All We Are’. Diving straight into
The slow-builder of ‘3am Sonata’, the band decided that less was more, at least to begin with, with the track’s otherwise delicate instrumentals; by the time the climax kicked in though, vocalist Graz shouting over the resounding guitar licks and bass-heavy flourishes, the crowd were in the palms of their hands — so, as the track’s shouted melodies faded into nothingness, teeing up the onset of 2017’s ‘Answers’, the crowd were all cheers. The set continued with ‘Maybe I’m Alive’, ‘Slide’ and the anthemic ‘Run Away’, its echoing chorus getting the crowd screaming alive — despite Dave Pearson having to persevere with a broken drumstick — all while Turner’s banter balanced precariously between cheeky (“It’s nice being back inside of you London!”) and commanding (“I don’t want to be an egotist but I need everyone to pay attention to me right now”). A request for “hands in the air London… please” managed to perfectly tread the line between self-deprecating charm and a sincere effort to hype the crowd, and then it was time for closer ‘Dream in a Little Less Colour’, its abrupt conclusion and the lyric “maybe I should shut my mouth” offering a contrast to the crowd’s clearly charged and enthusiastic response.
With new single ‘Everybody Dies But Us’, due out May 30th, a special dual-set hometown show at Nottingham’s The Bodega on July 25th, celebrating ten years of their debut album Under The Brightest Lights, and a return to The Dome as support for Lakeview in August, there’s plenty on the horizon for Lacey to be excited about.
A short wait later, and it was time for punk group Winona Fighter to take to the stage. With vocalist Coco Kinnon, guitarist Dan Fuson and bassist Austin Luther having a quick game of human bumper cars before launching into ‘You Look Like A Drunk Phoebe Bridgers’, the tone was set: they were here to have fun. And they’d only have fun if the crowd did too: “if you guys aren’t warmed up for The Used”, Coco informed the crowd, “we’re not doing our fucking job… And I love doing my job!” Enter, pits.
‘I Think You Should Leave’ and ‘R U FAMOUS’ came up next, unadulterated fury contorting the band’s face as they screamed, shredded and raved through the angsty, punk-heavy tracks, before ‘I’M IN THE MARKET TO PLEASE NO ONE’ got its Tufnell debut, the track likely the first introduction many in the room had to the Nashville group back in March last year. Kinnon was a living pinwheel, sparks and energy flying off of her as she spun, kicked, and just generally owned the stage. More than anything, the band just looked like they were having the most exhausting, sweaty fun you can have (at a gig anyway!)
A cover of Blur’s ‘Song 2’ came up next, strobe lights capturing the band in all of their airspace owning glory as they leapt and two stepped through the instrumentals, before ‘Wlbrn St Tvrn’ and the surprisingly scream-laden ‘HAMMS IN A GLASS’ gave a little more legitimacy to the fans wanting to collide in the circles opening up in the crowd — and then, all too soon, the set drew a close. Though, with the cheers greeting the reminder that Winona Fighter would be at Slam Dunk, it would only be a case of waiting a day or two to let loose once more.
After the sweat-soaking mess that Winona Fighter made of the crowd, it was a wonder that there was any energy left for the quartet everyone had come for — but, as it turns out, all anyone needed was the opening drumbeat of ‘The Ripper’. Despite only receiving its live debut earlier this year, a good 18 years later, it was met with nothing but adoration from the crowd, some fans near the front practically in tears. Not just from the song itself, but what it represented: all the other songs!
The duo of hard-hitting fan favourites ‘Pretty Handsome Awkward’ and ‘The Bird and the Worm’ saw a seamless flow of crowd surfers, fans at the barrier almost unable to see under the flailing arms and legs conveyed over them by the hard working security, while the emotional pop ballad of ‘Earthquake’ saw the show slow down a little and let the crowd tearfully sing along.
And then it was time for McCracken’s ‘favourite’ part of the set, where he asks members of the crowd to come up on stage. Cue the front five or so rows of fans sobbing and screeching up at the crowd in hopes of getting chosen; but, eventually, ten of the most visually fervent The Used fans were on stage, to a one all trying to sneak selfies with the band members (much to the elder emo frontman’s chagrin)
“If you’re on stage put your fucking phone in your pocket” he admonished both crowd and stage invaders alike, though the group seemed more than happy to give hugs. In this way, though, the show felt even more true to its anniversarial roots, genuinely feeling like a blast from the past, albeit a year that most present wouldn’t have even been out of school during — less (but never no) phones, songs that would be legally considered adults in the UK, a show in a sweaty club rather than the more expansive venues you’d find the group at today… and some slightly questionable lyric choices by way of ‘Paralysed’.
‘With Me Tonight’ saw McCracken bent over, wrenching guttural screams from the depths of his soul to the otherwise jaunty tune, while the ‘spooky finger’ variant of crowd-wide jazz hands served as background for the rowdy ‘Wake The Dead’, the deafening shouts from everyone present seeming to do just that. ‘Find A Way’, another track not played since the original tours back in 2007/2008, served as a soft reset to the room’s otherwise riotous energy, a fan blowing from off stage leaving Joey Bradford looking like some Viking warrior venturing forth from Asgard… and then came both the angst-filled, acerbic ‘Liar Liar (Burn In Hell)’, fry screams flying free from the ether, and the one surprise of the evening, the otherwise b-side of ‘Pain’ that served to split the ‘true fans’ from the rest.
Before the final track of the evening — which undoubtedly promised to be the slow, soothing and almost serene ‘Smother Me’ — there was one thing that needed to be said, and that’s where the band stood, what they stood for. And if that wasn’t obvious from the get go, it was freedom to be yourself. Donning a kaffiyeh, Robert succinctly said what everyone was thinking: “Free Palestine. Free the children, and free Palestine.”
Finally, though, the end couldn’t be staved off any longer. “This last one’s a slow song… let’s all cry together”. There was slow dancing, there were tears, and there was a palpable sense of relief from everyone present, as if the end of the track had served as a final emotional cleansing and release for the thousand strong crowd — though none of the secret ‘Queso’ at the end!
A beautiful night celebrating an album that not only helped make the quartet’s careers, but helped to soundtrack generation after generation after generation.
Words by James O’Sullivan
Photography by Charis Lydia Bagioki
