So I went to the My Chemical Romance show at Allstate Arena last night. Now let me preface this by saying I knew about MCR long before MTV got a hold of them (unlike a substantial amount of the crowd). Secondly, I am not normally a fan of arena tours but this show was remarkable.
The show opened with MCR front man Gerard Way entering the stage on a gurney and the rest of the band coming on stage as “the black parade”. These personas were maintained throughout the fifty two minute set which included in chronological order every song off of the album The Black Parade. The band then left the stage, changed into their pre black parade uniforms of tight pants and black shirts and or jackets (not dissimilar to their black parade uniforms) and came back on stage as My Chemical Romance.
They started their My Chem performance with “I’m Not Okay” their first single off their second album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. They then proceeded to play five tracks off their first two albums including a personal favorite “You know what they do to guys like us in prison”, closing the show with their first MTV breakout hit, Helena.
The entire almost hour and a half that My Chemical Romance was performing they were on, from the vocals of Gerard to the sick guitar skills of Ray Torro. My only complaint for the entire night was the audience. It is so frustrating to be surrounded by screaming preteens who think that The Black Parade is MCR’s first album, or if they do know about the other albums I can pretty much guarantee they were bought and listened to in reverse chronological order. I am happy for MCR and their “success” but I am sad that they have become so commercialized. I literally heard one mother tell her daughter that she could “get two MCR shirts and we can share”, seriously when did mothers start enjoying MCR let alone wanting to sport their merch? Like I said I don’t blame MCR for this new found mass appeal, I blame MTV, and the bands performance far outweighed my horror at the shrieking that occurred when MCR took the stage. I guess it’s an interesting paradox, you want your favorite bands to succeed but to what degree?
My Trusted MOGs
Sounds nice. I vaguely liked the MCR songs I heard on the radio, and the songs I heard from Black Parade. Apparently it's supposed to be their album that everyone likes, even people that didn't like MCR before.