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My Chemical Romance concert review
`My Chemical Romance `are an American rock band. For more information & to follow the band on social media use any of the following external links.
My Chemical Romance concert review ~ TJ Gibson
Nine years. 108 months. 469 weeks. 3,287 days. That’s about how long fans of My Chemical Romance have waited for the snowball’s chance in hell of seeing this band do their thing live since their breakup in early 2013. It was thought by many to be an impossibility — the members had moved on, and so too had the world around them. But like all legends, the ember of My Chemical Romance never truly died, and if what this reviewer and lifelong fan got to experience this past Tuesday night is anything to go by, that ember has become an inferno once more.
As we all waited with bated breath for the band to make their entrance, stories abound of those who had sacrificed greatly to make sure they could be there. Those who had traversed oceans to witness this show, those who had camped through several chilly inner city nights outside the venue for the best possible spot, and many, many of those who had spent upwards of half a month’s rent just on their ticket alone. But to say it was all worth it would, at this point, be the understatement of the century.
Band members
Gerard Way / Jarrod Alexander / Mikey Way / Frank Iero / Jamie Muhoberac
Only about a week and a half into their Summer tour, MCR were in peak form as they played an unexpectedly eclectic and deep set to the massive, rabid, and downright enraptured Albany, NY crowd. Fittingly starting off with the band’s emotional new single, “The Foundations of Decay,” vocalist Gerard Way belted the kind of reflective, self-aware lyrics that only a seasoned veteran of his caliber can, lyrics such as “so tired with age, he turns the page, let the flesh submit itself to gravity,” or — a personal favorite of mine — “we would all build towers of our own, only to watch the rooms corrode…”
Clearly, this is a band very aware of its own history, its own legacy. Which would make sense why they would then shift to the song probably most responsible for launching them, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge’s “I’m Not Okay (I Promise).” Kicked off by Ray Toro and Frank Iero’s instantly-recognizable chordy pop punk riff and propelled ever forward by bassist Mikey Way and touring drummer Jarrod Alexander’s flawless rhythm section, the classic emo jam sounded every bit as urgent and powerful as it ever has, and that urgency and power only continued into “Give ‘Em Hell, Kid” — another fantastic Three Cheers track.
Location and date of these concert captures
MVP Arena / Albany / New York / 30.08.2022
Where the band really caught this crowd by surprise, though, was when they broke out super deep cut “Tomorrow’s Money” from their Conventional Weapons collection, a release comprised of cuts from a scrapped album that was originally meant to follow up The Black Parade before Danger Days was chosen instead. It makes sense they’d play it, though, as Conventional Weapons was technically their last release before breaking up and thus these songs have never really gotten their time to shine live. But shine it did, fitting right in among every other classic performed.
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After playing some particularly epic renditions of Three Cheers’ “The Ghost of You” and Danger Days’ “DESTROYA,” MCR finally gave the now fully-entranced crowd exactly what they’d been waiting all night for — some Black Parade magic, in the form of the incredible “This Is How I Disappear.” You could tell the crowd was ready for this, and the band could, too. When I tell you they played their asses off, I mean they played their fucking asses off, and they looked and sounded good doing it, too. If nine years off made the band at all rusty, then they certainly did not show it, even when cranking out older, punkier classics like Three Cheers’ “You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison” and I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love’s “Our Lady of Sorrows.”
Photographer
Then, the moment we all knew was coming: “Welcome To The Black Parade.” The second that touring keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac struck that iconic first piano note, every voice in the building screamed out in reverence and joy, ready to come together in a sing-along befitting a stadium. It wasn’t a sing-along at first, though, as Gerard let the impassioned crowd belt the opening all on their own, a decision that made for an unbelievably epic and emotional experience of that particular song — one that I know I won’t soon forget, and am thankful that I got to partake in. And at this point, the band pretty much just let the Black Parade floodgates open. After throwing out another surprise Weapons cut in “Boy Division,” they hit the crowd with the one-two punch of Black Parade all-timers “House of Wolves” and “Teenagers,” the latter of which was another tune ready for a sing-along and given just that.
They then threw it back to Three Cheers one final time in album opener “Helena,” a frenetic jam that brought the night’s energy to its peak… until it descended into all-out emotional turmoil in the equal parts sad and furious “Mama” from The Black Parade. At this point, every member of the band was absolutely drenched with sweat from giving it everything they could for over an hour at this point, sweat that was matched in equal measure by the blood and tears of the kind of adoring crowd I’ve only seen maybe one or two other times at most, if ever.
Record label
Eyeball Records / Reprise Records / Warner Records
Segueing out of the madness with the beautiful “Surrender the Night” — one final Weapons track — MCR then gave us all the lone Danger Days single in “Na Na Na.” Being one of their most popular songs, I was surprised it took them so long to bring it out, but still beyond excited to hear it nonetheless. That excitement, however, absolutely paled in comparison to the excitement I was about to feel. The excitement part of me wasn’t sure I’d get to feel, excitement that would bring physical tears to my eyes. Excitement that only the epic “Famous Last Words” from The Black Parade — my favorite song in the band’s entire catalog — could give me. Just as much a mission statement here and now as it was at the time it was released, lines like “I am not afraid to keep on living, I am not afraid to walk this world alone” make it crystal clear (as if it wasn’t already) that MCR is not dead, and they never will be.
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View this photographer`s A to Z of ALL the bands & artists captured for Chasing The Light Art. Follow the links for more great Rock n roll concert images from this photographer.
If the band had chosen to end their night right there, they would have done it perfectly well and left a satisfied crowd in their wake. But it’s been nine years, and they weren’t ready to go yet. So they didn’t, and instead they treated us all to the least expected yet most amazing encore = we could possibly ask for in the form of I Brought You My Bullets’ heavy as hell “Vampires Will Never Hurt You” and The Black Parade’s thunderous “Sleep.” The latter, already a song plenty capable of closing out a set, was elevated to the level of rock masterpiece as My Chemical Romance added an extended outro onto it, one that allowed every member to shine with their own solo, and bid farewell in the kind of emotionally epic way that only they could.
What a night to remember that My Chemical Romance gave the crowd at the MVP Arena in Albany, NY. What a moment it was to share with the band and their thousands of loving fans in attendance. What a time to be alive, right here and right now with My Chemical Romance back where they belong: being the voice of a loud generation of beautiful misfits, ones now a little older and grayer than they once were, but ones ready for their heroes back. Thank God My Chemical Romance returned. I needed them. We needed them. The world needed them.
