The Used rocks the 3rd street Fremont Stage for the final edition of the Downtown Rocks Summer Concert Series

October 10, 2026

If there’s anything that we’ve been made aware of the last few years it’s that it was indeed, not a phase. With the inception of When We Were Young, we’ve witnessed first hand the impact of post hardcore, emo, and other related genres and their relevance over the last 25 years. For some of us, this music never left our playlist or mix cd rotation. The last few weekends, Downtown Las Vegas’ Fremont Street Experience has brought all those feels to the crowd first hand, for free. And for this final show of the summer, we have The Used.

This was my first time venturing down to Fremont for one of these free concert experiences. And damn, did it sure leave an impression on me. I’ve done my fair share of work down here for some of the Las Vegas locals who have played these stages, but this was an entirely different experience. I don’t think I have ever seen so many people crowding the area in front of Four Queens and The D hotels.

But let’s take it back for a second… Back when I was a kid, (my perception at the time) there were a couple of different pockets of emo kids, and those who engaged with the post hardcore/pop punk scenes. I remember the uprising of all these bands, and I also remember there seemed to be two different camps here… Fans who loved My Chemical Romance, and fans who loved The Used. While I don’t have anything against MCR, and I know the bases did overlap over time, my heart gravitated to The Used. Their raw power, aggression, and emotion, especially in those first few records, really did something to my younger teenage self. And the funny thing was, that I found The Used thanks to my best friend’s mono or poly ringtone on whatever phone she had back in 2004. “A Box Full of Sharp Objects,” just the melody, and that’s all it took to hook me.

Though I’ve been a fan of The Used since 2005, the first time I was able to see them was in 2018 during their run with the final cross country Warped Tour. If you know, then you know… but Warped Tour sets, as fun as they are, aren’t able to give you the full experience of a band’s set or show experience, just on the basis that there simply isn’t enough time. So when The Used was announced on the roster for the free Downtown Concert Series, I had to jump on it.

Opening up with Pretty Handsome Awkward off of the 2007 record Lies for the Liars, you could feel the watergates that was the energy of the entire area just burst open. I think I tripped over my own foot out of excitement, thankfully I caught myself. There wasn’t much of a break after that song before the guys went right into Take it Away off of 2004’s In Love and Death. They even included the spoken word intro from the album there, which sometimes you see, but sometimes you don’t. The set carried on through their discography, playing all the songs that you’d expect to hear. I felt my inner teenage heart crack open during Buried Myself Alive, and On My Own, literal soundtracks to pain felt that I had no idea how to manage, and still find relevance to hardships as an adult.

Only a couple of of newer tracks sprinkled in, such as Fuck You off of 2024’s MEDZ record. (They went into this song after Bert yelled “FUCK ICE” into the mic. A stance that the band has routinely made over the last couple years.) Middle fingers galore could be seen across the crowd, and well… Bert routinely throws up his middle finger through these sets which made for some fun photos. They followed up with Blow Me, a solo single that was released back in 2019. Outside those two songs, it was all the heavy hitter songs from 2002 – 2009, and we all really reveled in that. The Used really knew what we wanted to hear this round, and they delivered!

The Used closed out the set with The Taste of Ink, which led into another massive crowd participation session, and A Box Full of Sharp Objects fading into a medley of Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit. I was kind of expecting a little Under Pressure, but the overhead track played that song as the band left the stage.

Overall, this experience was definitely one of my personal favorite shows of 2026. I think the only thing that I was surprised about was that Bert doesn’t seem to take on too much of his screaming parts anymore. They have mainly been passed over to bassist Jepha Howard. But that’s okay, the shared vocal duties were pretty seamless through the entire set. Another fun bit that I really appreciated was Bert’s brief explanation of their history as a band… how they never broke up, never took a break, just kept on going and here they are, 26 years in of being an emo band.

The Used has absolutely stood the test of time over all these years. And if you’re at all into this scene, they should absolutely be on your list of bands to see if you haven’t seen them. Or even if you have, whatever. They’re that good.

Until next time…