The Used• Pierce the Veil• Don Broco• Girl Friends• June 28, 2023• The Complex
Reviewed and Photographed by Maralee Nielson
Concerts on a weekday you wouldn’t expect to have a larger turnout, with most individuals having work in the morning. That wasn’t the case on June 28th, which was a Wednesday. In Salt Lake City, The Used brought their Creative Control tour to Utah with Pierce The Veil, Don Broco, and Girl Friends. This was a lot show at The Complex. It was sold out so there were at least 4,000 people that filled every inch of the parking lot at The Complex. At 1 pm there was already a line getting started up the side of the building.
By the time of doors at 5:30 pm it was wrapped clear around the building and up the road. Doors opened and the crowd rushed in, security yelled for everyone to walk. The lot soon started to fill up for the opening bands. People ran for drinks and concessions, some ran for merch, and some just to the front of the barricade.
Girl Friends
6 pm rolled around and the first act up was Girl Friends. The lead vocalist came on stage and introduced himself. Turns out his drummer was unable to get his flight to Salt Lake City. So the band turned into a solo DJ set aka, “Emo Night”. He played all sorts of early 2000 punk hits as well as current hits. The crowd danced and sang along loudly to all the songs being played. While occasionally a small mosh pit would start to some heavier songs. As he was finishing up his emo night DJ set he played one of the band’s latest songs to close up the set. It was unfortunate that the rest of the band was unable to make it. But the set ended up pleasing the crowd just fine.
Don Broco
Up next was a band from the UK called Don Broco. They took the stage and pleased everyone’s ears with their strong accents. During their set, they encouraged the crowd to start a pit and to follow “the king”. Who was an attendee dressed up as a king in the middle of the lot. They had so much energy on stage. There are really no words that can describe how incredible these guys are while they are performing. They jump they run they are so full of energy I wish that I had it. They engaged with the crowd so well and got everyone to jump with them along to their songs.
Pierce the Veil
As it was time for Pierce The Veil to come on, the lot was filled and I mean FILLED. There were people in the lot and inside the building and it was packed. They placed a large white curtain up over the stage while they got the stage ready for the band. As they played music to start the set off, the curtain fell. The crowd screamed loudly and it made for a dramatic start to the set. Pierce the Veil came on and played hit songs such as “Death of an Executioner”, “Hold On till May”, “Circles” and “King For a Day”.
The crowd was wild and screamed along to each song. During one part of the set, they brought a fan up on stage that lead vocalist Vic Fuentes sings to. There were fans with signs asking to be brought up. When he asked for “help” from a fan, all hands shot up from the front to the back of the crowd. Vic brought a girl up on stage who sang all the words to the song back to him. At the end, he ended up giving her one of his guitars. The crowd was visibly excited for the girl who got that guitar. And for the band was overall themselves. As they played each song the fans sang along with passion. Vic thanked the crowd for holding on till May. They played an hour-long set, and as they finished some of the crowd rushed inside to buy their merchandise.
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The Used
The crowd waited patiently for the final act, The Used to come on. This is a hometown show for them as they are based here in Utah. 9 pm rolled around, again with a large curtain up covering the stage. It dropped and the crowd started yelling for The Used as they made their way onto the stage. The stage was full of pink flowers, on the mic stands and covering the front and back of the stage. Lead vocalist Bert McCracken took the stage and shared how he was grateful to be home in Utah. They started off in 2001 in Orem Utah.
The Used played some of their hit songs like “The Taste of Ink” and “Buried Myself Alive”. At the start of their set, they got the crowd with their middle fingers up yelling “F*¢k you” over and over again. They had incredible crowd interaction and it was not a letdown. The Used opened up about mental health and addiction. They had these sentimental moments that the crowd could react to and relate to. They played songs off their latest album, Toxic Positivity. It helps support their message regarding the importance of taking care of yourself and mental illness.
The lights were bright, they had the elder emo fans there singing along and showing their support for the band. As Pierce the Veil is more for the younger, The Used definitely put on a great show that was unforgettable. Especially for those elder emos like myself. They played an hour set and filled the hearts of all the fans.
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