This feels like a long time coming, but I finally got to see My Chemical Romance last night!
Almost a whole year passed since COVID ruined my chances of seeing them at Riot Fest last year, but a four hour drive was worth it to finally get to see these guys perform live for the first time after being a fan for the last thirteen years of my life. Now, I will say that I’m not a diehard fan like a lot of the crowd was last night, so that means I had my skepticisms of how it was all going to sound. All in all, pretty damn good. Sure, Gerard took the easy note out on several songs, but things change as you get older, so I imagine some of those notes are a killer to try and hit night after night.
Even though the tour only just started, I’ve noticed that they’ve been playing around with the setlist a lot. Sure, there are staples like “Helena,” “I’m Not Okay,” and “The Black Parade” that absolutely have to be on there for fear of the wrath of the crowd, but otherwise, the song selections have been pretty eclectic. I’d noticed that their last full-length, 2015’s Danger Days, had the most songs at the previous four stops on the tour, but last night, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge reigned supreme! Aside from the mix in song choice, there has also been quite the mix in song order. No two shows have ended the same way, nor have the encore songs been the same. That has to be keeping this tour exciting for the guys.
I’m partial to “Famous Last Words,” “Vampire Money,” and “Ghost of You,” but it was really cool to hear songs like “Boy Division” make the cut from the Conventional Weapons compilation. “Bury Me in Black” and “Thanks for the Venom” were really popular to the crowd, if the shrieking girls beside and behind me were any indication (I appreciated their excitement, though). It was also neat to hear the tour debut of “Headfirst for Halos” from their first record get played during the encore. That also went over really, really well with the fans. Overall, I really liked the mix that they did with the show.
Of course MCR is what made the concert great, but what made it even better? Literally five minutes before opener Dilly Dally were set to take the stage, I jumped on Stub Hub and managed to snag a second row floor seat for under 70 bucks. Given that I was in the second to last row in the stands, this was a no-brainer. It made the experience really cool! Also, second opener, Turnstile, were fantastic. They really got the crowd amped up in anticipation for MCR. I know they’re not on the whole tour, but it made the show even better for me. Seriously, if you haven’t gotten tickets to see MCR in a city near you – why?! Life’s short. Be happy.