The Used Joined by a Stellar Lineup Rock Kraken Fest 2022

A showcase of rock artists took to the stage on Saturday February 19th for the 3^rd annual Kraken Fest in Orlando, Florida. The festival featured a combination of established bands from the 2000’s as well as regional artists from Central and Southern Florida. Emo, post-hardcore, metalcore, pop punk, trash rock, and hard rock were all on display by a lineup which included The Used, Anberlin, Story of The Year, The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus, Evergreen Terrace, Felicity, We’re Wolves, and The Dev.

The weather was ideal to kick off the festival with sunny skies and a temperature in the mid-70’s. A late arriving crowd resulted in only a sparse group of concert goers present for the first few bands. Fans often make the mistake of bypassing the opening acts which is usually a mistake. This proved to be the case on this day.

Late arriving festival goers missed out on local favorites The Dev, We’re Wolves, and Felicity. These bands all put on energetic performances. Each gave it their all looking to prove themselves and build their audience. All you had to do was to look at their eyes to see the burning desire as they expelled every last bit of energy to excite the crowd.

AJ Diaferio from We’re Wolves with his disheveled hair and painted face put on a ferocious display. His crazy eyes glared into the crowd looking like a hungry animal searching for his next prey. Felicity’s Damien Fagiolino was all punk displaying attitude as he bounced all around the stage with mic in hand. During the set, Dan Marsala from Story of The Year joined the band on stage to sing “Ignite” from Felicity’s Dear Universe album which Marsala appeared on. He made sure to match Fagiolino’s attitude giving him the finger at one point.

We’re Wolves (Photo Credit: Scott Raymer)

In between acts the crowd, attired in their favorite band shirts, loaded up on food ranging from wood fired pizza, burgers, seafood, BBQ, and fair and festival favorite funnel cake. There were lemonade stands for younger attendees and beer and alcohol aplenty for the adults. While some did overdue the alcohol, the crowd was well behaved during the night. Long lines were present all day at the merch tables with fans patiently waiting in line for their favorite band memorabilia, particularly The Used.

Lead singer Andrew Carey from Evergreen Terrace put on the wildest performance of the day. Between stage diving and swinging his mic over his head like it a weapon, it was amazing he made it through the performance without a head injury. The band worked the crowd into a frenzy with mosh pits breaking out during the performance.

Evergreen Terrace (Photo Credit: Scott Raymer)

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus was the first band to play after the sun went down. Colored stage lights and haze machines set the ambience for the rest of the night. This is the point at which the photographers in the pit like me said f*uck because the night just got a lot more challenging for us. Fans enjoyed the band’s 9-song set waiting in anticipation for the bands big hit, “Face Down”. Hands went up in the air and crowd surfing was in full force.

The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus (Photo Credit: Scott Raymer)

By the time Story of the Year took the stage, the air temperature started taking a dive bottoming out in the mid-50’s. The band started their set with “Falling Down” from 2003’s Page Avenue. A continuous stream of crowd surfers flowed toward the stage right from the start. Marsala put on an engaging performance constantly leaning in toward the crowd with foot perched on speaker. The set closed with the band’s first hit, “Until The Day I Die”. A mass of cameras instantly shot up from the crowd to record this fan favorite. Fans jumped in the air screaming the chorus along with the band.

Story of the Year (Photo Credit: Scott Raymer)

Anberlin was a late replacement for ska punk band Less Than jake. Originally, I was disappointed to hear Less Than Jake had dropped out but Anberlin more than made up for it. The band originating from nearby Winter Haven, Florida opened their set with “Never Take Friendship Personal”. Front man Stephen Christian gets the award for best dressed and smartest performer of the night coming out looking stylish in a black leather jacket which certainly took the chill off the air. Anberlin closed with “Feel Good Drag”. Christian encouraged the crowd to sing along to the song which concluded in epic fashion with him leaving the stage to stand on top of the barrier before jumping into the sea of fans and crowd surfing his way back to the front.

After a long day, The Used finally took the stage at 10:20 PM. This was without a doubt the band that most people came to see. The air was filled with electricity when lead singer Bert McCraken and the rest of the band walked on stage. It had been almost five months since the band’s last live performance, and you could see it in their eyes that they were glad to be back.

The Used have been around since 2002 so they had a lot of material to pull from for their show. On this cold night they performed songs from several of their albums including The Used, In Love and Death, Lies for Liars, Artwork, and their latest Heartwork. Highlights from their set included “The Bird and the Worm”, “Buried Myself Alive”, “I Caught Fire”, “Paradise Lost, a poem by John Milton”, and “A Taste of Ink”.

McCraken threw out a bit of punk attitude throughout the night. There were sarcastic comments about vaccines and drugs amongst others. He made it known that he was 39 and would be turning 40 the following week. The audience was encouraged to join him in singing “Happy Birthday” in various manners before he went into a high-speed rendition of the song to keep the show moving along. McCraken jokingly commented on his plans to continue performing for the next 50 years.

This was a long grueling day for me following a 450 mile drive the day before to attend the show. After spending most of the first five hours of the festival on my feet, my leg and back pain level was around an 8. Oh, to be twenty again. My body was saying “leave and skip the final acts” but my brain was telling me “no f*ucking way are you going to leave without seeing The Used”. Under normal circumstances I would have given in after my allotted three songs from the pit. However, once McCraken started singing “A Taste of Ink” the adrenaline surged, and the pain was replaced by euphoria. This sense of emotional high increased even more with “Buried Myself Alive”.

The band closed out the show with “A Box Full of Sharp Objects” from their debut album The Used, complete with screamo parts by guitarist Joey Bradford. Bits of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” were thrown in at different parts of the song. After the song I made a dash or should say limped my way to the parking lot.

All in all, it was a great experience to see a group of bands that I had never seen perform live. I’m sure I am not the only one who left the festival feeling the same way. While multi-day festivals like Lollapalooza and Coachella get most of the publicity, there is certainly a place for smaller one day festivals like Kraken Fest. It provides a platform for lesser-known Florida bands to reach a new audience while also giving fans a chance to see some of their favorites.

This was the third installment of the festival which has continued to grow with each occurrence. Hopefully, the promoters can continue to attract bands like previous headliners We The Kings, Taking Back Sunday, and this year’s The Used.

Post by Scott Raymer (Website | Instagram | Facebook)

Comment below.