On July 14th, 2024- The Used performed at The NorVa in Norfolk VA with special guests Amira Elfeky and Story Of The Year. The night was filled with nostalgia and I got a chance to meet amazing people during the event as well as hang out with a friend that lives in the area! It was a hot, sweaty, and very crowded night. Over 1,500 people filled the venue top to bottom! The best way to end the tour with a sold out show!
Opening the night was one of my favorite female solo artists; Amira Elfeky. I recently found her on spotify maybe 2 months ago with the song “Secrets”. I instantly fell in love with the style, Amira reminds me of a mixture of Evanescence and Within Temptation with the black hair, dresses, and her dark aesthetic. I could not believe my ears when she came on stage to perform her first song because I was not ready for her to sound exactly the same as on album. Her presence on stage felt so sinister at the same time because her vocals just lured me in; Almost like her vocals hypnotized me in a way. I’ve always enjoyed musicians that go the gothic route in music because the type of music they create makes my mind very calm and the whole aesthetic is very eye-catching. Amira and her band performed songs such as “Save Me” , “Coming Down” , and “Remains Of Us” If you want to keep up with Amira; she post's regularly on tiktok and I can’t stop watching the videos!
The next band was Story Of The Year and they had the best entrance by far! Even though it was the last day of the tour; they went on stage full of energy like it was the first day of the tour! Doing push ups and climbing on top of eachother and just joking around with one another making the atmosphere so fun and engaging. This is what I like to see as an attendee and a photographer. When bands have fun on stage and are very interactive with the crowd because attendees do pay a lot of money to come to shows and Story Of The Year did what they needed to do. They had the whole place singing along from beginning to end. When they performed “Anthem Of Our Dying Day” and “Until They Day I Die”; I sung my heart out because I’ve been listening to these guys for over 20 years and to hear my childhood songs; I couldn’t keep myself composed. If crowd surfing was allowed at this venue; I would’ve had my friend hold my camera because I would have crowd surfed at least five times to their set. They did release their album “Tear Me To Pieces” last year with songs such as; “War” , “Tear Me To Pieces” , and “Real Life” being the most popular songs on their spotify! The amount of energy each musician had on stage made me feel very tired because from beginning to end that energy did not stop.
Ending the night was The Used! And they opened their set with the best song “Pretty Handsome Awkward” and I couldn’t hold in my excitement. Before they went on stage; they had a very long opening with a fly buzzing sound for a solid 2-3 minutes and I was waiting for the flashing strobe lights to happen since it was dark at the time. Created that anticipation and I was becoming restless at the time because I just wanted to finally see The Used live after so many years of being a fan and singing their songs at Emo Nights. The opening song was the best to open up with because everyone instantly started singing; I did as well because this song has been my favorite since I was a teenager. The Used did recently release their newest album “MEDZ” this year with songs such as; “Fuck You” , “Terrified” , and “Take Yourself Out” being my top favorite songs from this album! But no album can match the one released in 2002 with the song “The Taste Of Ink” on it. That’s the song that got me to love The Used. At the time I was 9 years old when it came out. My dad actually liked this band and that’s why this band holds a special spot in my heart. Father and daughter rides were always great with the mixture of The Used and disco music! You could see on the musicians' faces that they were exhausted from this tour and that night was their last night on tour; So I don’t blame them for looking tired. They tried their best to put on the best show for 1,500 attendees! I don’t think people realize how tiring it is being on the road at times and in reality; everyone barely sleeps and has days off. They did a phenomenal job and they closed off the tour with an amazing performance that will live in my mind forever.
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