Gallery, ReviewDitch This MagazineAugust 12, 2025gallery, live, melbourne, Odin Imaging, Nathan Goldsworthy, odin imaging, Destroy All Lines, The Forum, The Used, Hands Like Houses, forum melbourne

The Used + Hands Like Houses @ The Forum 10-08-25

Gallery, ReviewDitch This MagazineAugust 12, 2025gallery, live, melbourne, Odin Imaging, Nathan Goldsworthy, odin imaging, Destroy All Lines, The Forum, The Used, Hands Like Houses, forum melbourne

photos: Nathan Goldsworthy @odin.imaging

Night Three of The Used’s 25th Anniversary run in Melbourne was a love letter to heartbreak, fury, and survival — the In Love and Death album, played in full. Released in 2004, it’s a record soaked in grief and defiance, and at The Forum it felt every bit as raw as the day it dropped.

Canberra’s Hands Like Houses, fronted by new vocalist Josh Raven, opened with soaring choruses and crisp musicianship — giving a glimpse of their bold reinvention on the double album Atmospherics. But the real surprise came mid-set, when Raven took the mic for a haunting cover of Chris Isaak’s “Wicked Game.” The moody reverb and fatalistic longing of that song translated through Raven’s voice like a pulse—turning warm crowd energy briefly into something more spectral and intoxicating.

When The Used hit the stage, the atmosphere snapped. Bert McCracken grinned like a man about to kick the hornet’s nest, and “Take It Away” ripped the lid off immediately. The album unfurled track by track — “I Caught Fire” shimmered with bittersweet beauty, “Let It Bleed” punched harder, and “It’s Hard to Say” wrapped the room in a strange, aching stillness.

The Used + Hands Like Houses @ The Forum 10-08-25 — **The Used**

One of the night’s most powerful moments came before “All That I’ve Got.” Bert introduced the song with a quiet, sobering truth — it was written about the overdose death of the love of his life, who was pregnant at the time. The weight of that loss hung in the air as the first notes rang out, turning the room into a single voice carrying his grief back to him.

Throughout the set, Bert's banter swung from absurd humour to genuine vulnerability, keeping the set human even as the band played with machine-tight precision. By the explosive closer “I’m a Fake,” the Forum was drenched in sweat, ears ringing, and hearts cracked wide open.

Twenty-five years in, The Used aren’t just revisiting their past — they’re dragging it into the present and proving it still hits like a hammer. Melbourne didn’t just watch In Love and Death live; we lived it all over again.