Sun Sep 29 2024 > 7:00 PM (Doors 6:00 PM) at Marathon Music Works in Nashville. Tickets: $63.63 – $106.84 > All Ages

The Used > Alternative Rock: When Bert McCracken says that the songs that comprise Toxic Positivity are some of the most sincere he has ever written, you know he doesn’t speak those words lightly.

For as long as he can remember, McCracken has used music as an outlet to lay bare his innermost thoughts and emotions. For 23 years, that writing has enabled The Used to deeply resonate with fans the world over. Exploding off the back of universally adored rock anthems such as ‘The Taste Of Ink’, ‘Take It Away’ and ‘Pretty Handsome Awkward’, the many millions of streams and record sales (including the platinum-certified The Used and In Love And Death) their career has yielded are one thing; the human connection formed between artist and audience is priceless, however. To that end alone, The Used can consider themselves four of the luckiest and richest men in music.

“Humans share such similar experiences and similar tragedies and everything in between,” McCracken says of the intimate connection he has with people in all four corners of the globe. “I feel that if I’m writing honestly, and I’m writing from the heart, our fans will feel it.

“This record is quite tough of me to listen to,” he adds, “because it’s a reflection of times in my life that have been some of lowest ever.”

If most albums are a document of a singular time, a place, and a feeling, then Toxic Positivity can lay claim to being a document of two, and the journey between them. When The Used entered the studio of longtime collaborator John Feldmann in the autumn of 2021, the result was 10 songs recorded across 10 days that would see McCracken, bassist Jepha, drummer Dan Whitesides and guitarist Joey Bradford spilling sweat and blood for anything up to 14 hours at a time. Emerging from the eye of the Covid pandemic, and created in the shadow of a world that socially, economically and politically felt as if it were rupturing at the seams, the tracks were imbued with a negativity and despondency that spoke of experiences both shared and deeply personal, with McCracken suffering from a deep depression and addiction issues. Recent standalone singles ‘Fuck You’ (‘I’m a shadow of the one I once knew’, McCracken cries) and ‘People Are Vomit’ (‘This future’s fucked before it got started!’) were, unsurprisingly given their titles and riotous anger, born of these sessions.

Plain White T’s > Pop Punk: Since emerging in 1997, Chicago quartet Plain White T’s — Tom Higgenson [vocals], Tim Lopez [lead guitar, vocals], Mike Retondo [bass], and De’Mar Hamilton [drums] — have remained visible and viable. They have consistently delivered unforgettable pop rock anthems that take up real estate in your brain for months at a time. They have amassed over 2.7 billion total global streams, earned two Grammy nominations, and collected several Platinum-plus and Gold certifications across their impressive catalog. Their signature single “Hey There Delilah” went quadruple-platinum, topped the Billboard Hot 100, and earned the pair of aforementioned GRAMMY® nominations in 2008 — for “Song of the Year” and “Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal.” They have made their pop culture mark by appearing on highly visible shows such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, Sesame Street, iCarly, 90210, Beavis & Butthead, and Frankenweenie, all the while nabbing press accolades from TIME, Billboard, ESPN, Rolling Stone, AV Club, MTV, MSNBC, and more. Plain White T’s have proven to be a reliable musical force, as well as a career band that shows no signs of stopping or slowing down. Their new self-titled album is out via longtime label Fearless Records November 2023.

Raue > Rock: r uː eɪ Our songs are a paradox of ineffability