In 2006, burgeoning emo megastars My Chemical Romance unleashed their death-centred rock opera ‘The Black Parade’ on the world. The album – which tells the story of a cancer patient bargaining with the complexities of death in his last moments – has become a genre staple and is widely considered the band’s masterpiece. In 2008, they were killed off in a dramatic fashion in Mexico City, never to return. Twenty years later, the band set off on a tour to commemorate the album and its legacy, much to the surprise of their audience. In an era of anniversary tours, especially within the emo genre, there was an underlying concern that perhaps this tour may be veering into nostalgia bait. Since their reunion in 2019, My Chemical Romance have never been that band, even making fun of the idea with full-face old-man prosthetics paired with their ‘Revenge’ era outfits at When We Were Young Festival in 2022. So when the band began cryptically sharing a strange new language and closeups of unfamiliar characters, it was clear they were planning something big.
After ripping its way through the States and South America, the ‘Long Live The Black Parade Tour’ finally made its way to the UK this Summer with a slew of stadium appearances concluding with a three-night stint at Wembley Stadium. Each night proved bigger than the last, and Music Is To Blame were in and amongst the chaos to cry, scream and most importantly, pay our respects to the Grand Immortal Dictator on his first visit to our nation.
As Harry Styles moved out of Wembley Park, the disco drained away as MCR moved in, black-clad bodies fought against the punishing sun under the waving flag of Draag, the fictional dictatorship in which the Black Parade perform. On Friday the 10th of July, the area was swarmed with fans dressed up not only in Black Parade garb, but outfits to match every era of the band; red ties and x’s over the eyes all the way to Killjoy neons flooded the stadium grounds. Those in the know of the world of Draag dressed as characters from the show; nurses from the South American leg, the opera singers Sylvia and Marianne, or the now-beloved Pierrot Clown. There was a sense that one was at home; it may sound cliché, but there was a palpable feeling that you were amongst family. Fans, known lovingly as the MCRmy, traded art and bracelets, met new friends and reunited with old ones. Flocking from all over the world for a glimpse of their heroes, with many waiting years to see the band, the excitement and energy from the fans even hours before the show was entirely overwhelming in all of the best ways.
Doors opened promptly, and people shuffled through the turnstiles and into the stadium, being handed paper signs reading “YEA” on one side and “NAY” on the other. These will become important later. Taking their places around the brutalist, Eastern-Bloc-style stage, the audience was met with the imposing letters “MCR” in bright red written in Keposhka that decorated the marquee. Keposhka was a language devised for the tour and its extended universe by lead singer Gerard Way and typographist Nate Piekos (whose article on the inception of the language can be found here). My Chemical Romance never acts half-heartedly, and the creation of an entire fictional language just for a tour proves that. Just like the creation of the initial record - which was written primarily in a haunted mansion in LA - the band threw themselves headfirst into immersion, and provided their fans with the experience too. The devil is in the details, and it goes to prove the care with which the band have for their art and its legacy.
Such a monumental tour calls for monumental support, and who better to open on the Friday than Joan Jett and the Blackhearts. Leather-clad despite the heatwave and eyeliner painted on thick, the queen of rock and roll herself took to the stage guns a-blazing. Walking out to Bikini Kill’s 'Rebel Girl', the Wembley crowd was in perfect spirits to witness an icon. Kicking things off with ‘Victim of Circumstance’, the large crowd began to move under her power. Jett’s stage presence is unshakeable; she knows exactly how to command a crowd, and her charisma is endlessly addictive. Pumping out gigantic riffs fit for a stadium, Jett and her band’s sound ran laps around the pitch. The most memorable moment of the set came during ‘Do You Wanna Touch Me (Oh Yeah)’, when the crowd realised they could put their signs to good use. As Jett instructed her audience to sing “oh yeah”, the crowd held up the “YEA” side of their signs to the rhythmic chants of the track. Jett herself seemed pleased with the display of creativity, with audience members giggling at the convenience of their props. Closing with ‘Bad Reputation’, The Blackhearts rounded out a set of sure-fire classics with an infectiously raucous energy. “Let’s kick some ass!” Jett yelled as the band launched into the final chorus, inviting the crowd to do the same.
With the sun still burning down, it was time for My Chemical Romance to take the stage. A member of the Draag National Auxiliary Band (Tucker Rule from New Jersey emo giants Thursday) played a marching drum as a procession took to the stage with a bouquet of wheat and a ventriloquist dummy. The dictator took to his throne, entering holding a Selfridges bag, and the crowd was instructed to rise for the Draag national anthem, many in the crowd already knowing the words. The world had been built before the band had even stepped on stage, the audience enveloped in a new universe. Then, there they were, met with a barrage of screams, dressed in their shiny new military uniforms – The 52nd Regiment of The Black Parade. As ‘The End’ begins, the crowd exults in the presence of their heroes. “When I grow up I want to be NOTHING AT ALL” they scream alongside Way; a deep catharsis is felt in every syllable. As the acoustic guitars of the track give way to the opening thrash of ‘Dead!’ the party was officially in full swing. “Get off your ass and just fly”, the singer exclaims during guitarist Ray Toro’s iconic solo. To say the crowd were excited would be an understatement. Way introduces the band, as well as the Grand Immortal Dictator, “Tractor Magazine's most interesting man in the world for 27 years running”. The cameras cut to the stoic, sharp-faced character sitting on his throne, eating a plate of fish and chips.
As a Keposhka-branded lectern is pushed onto the stage, Way examines it, poses next to it and then ushers in what many have been waiting for, that infamous G note. As ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ began, 90,000 voices came together to join the band, with the singer letting them take the lead. The sound was overpowering, an emotional moment for many as the rallying cry for the broken, beaten, and the damned slipped into the summer sky, fists pumping in the air in unison as they sang, voices raw from passionate screams. As the song ends, four people in boiler suits and bags over their heads are paraded onto the B-stage in the middle of the crowd. Gerard Way explains that the crowd is to take part in an election, as Draag values democracy. The audience must decide whether the four shall live or die using the signs handed to them earlier. As the vote concludes, their death seems inevitable, with the frontman excitedly counting down to their demise. “Ready… Aim… Fire!” he shouts as the group is seemingly gunned down by a firing squad of silhouetted soldier cutouts to the sound of the ‘Benny Hill’ theme ‘Yakety Sax’. Soldiers fire off confetti cannons as unaware audience members ask themselves what could possibly be going on. For the keen-eyed in the crowd, the body bags used to cart off the criminals were marked with the BL/ind logo, the fictional megacorporation that antagonises the Killyjoys in the band’s fourth album ‘Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys’, the remaster of said album being released on the same day.
Each song had its own vignette, provided by a combination of visuals, the band and the actors onstage. There are many ideas and visual references to pick up on; the band throws everything they have at the wall, and luckily for them, it all sticks. Nowhere is this balls-to-the-wall attitude more apparent than during emo-polka-cabaret classic ‘Mama’. As the song begins, the dystopian cityscape background disappears to reveal what seems to be nuclear launch codes. As the song escalates, blasts of pyro shoot from the stage to the roof of the stadium, warming the faces and blowing the minds of the audience. Genuine shrieks of fear could be heard ringing out as a man runs across the stage while on fire, Way mockingly chasing him as the song breaks down to even more pyro.
The theatrics never slowed down, culminating in the pyro-doused singalong of ‘Famous Last Words’, a deeply personal track for so many in attendance. Way let the audience take the lead again as the song began, bathing in the sound of thousands of voices. As he sang the song's central mantra, “I am not afraid to keep on living / I am not afraid to walk this world alone”, fans embraced each other, threw their hands in the air, and let tears stream down their faces as they bear witness to the song and the band that provided so much solace in difficult times. In the band's 2006 documentary Life On The Murder Scene, Gerard Way discusses how the band saved his life, and how it is there to save the fans too; twenty years later, their mission is still a success, and the way in which members of the crowd threw themselves into screaming every word was proof of the fact. As the on-screen countdown ended and Draag’s bomb detonated, the stage erupted with fireworks and more pyro, the stage itself burning down in an homage to the song’s music video.
This is where the album ends, but the fun was not over yet. As guitarist Toro picks up his acoustic guitar to reprise opening track ‘The End’, a Pierrot Clown appears on stage brandishing a dagger. For those who kept up with the tour's extensive lore, something was different. Usually played by The Clerk, the clown was now The Secretary, the cold-faced head of affairs hidden behind a pair of round sunglasses. Those in the know scream as they try to make sense of the implications, as well as contain their excitement. As Way sings, the clown dances around each member of the band, then walks over to Way and swiftly strikes him in the chest, blood spraying the white of her costume and decorating the singer's face, much to the delight of the audience. As he crawls to a pre-existing body outline on the floor, he sings a long, pained “We’ll carry on” before dropping dead. The rest of the band are then bagged and kidnapped by Draag personnel as the jaunty piano of the album's secret song ‘Blood’ begins. The clown lipsyncs for her life, and she riles up the crowd, slowly revealing a bomb vest and detonating it at the song's conclusion, the stage lighting up once more. The Black Parade is dead, or gone, once again. Thanks to the Ministry of Complimentary Reconditioning, they will be back in no time!
As a deer begins to rot on the big screens, cellist Clarice Jensen takes her place on the B-stage and begins to serenade the crowd with her own composition ‘From A to B’, an aching piece that provided a perfect, uncanny stillness to counteract the show’s dramatic end, a single spotlight cast on her as she played. It gave the crowd time to process what they had just witnessed, but also time to wonder what on earth could happen next. Throughout the tour, My Chemical Romance have performed a second set at the B-stage featuring other classics as well as fan favourite deep cuts, and in and amongst those pushed against the barrier was a sense of fear – what on earth are they going to pull out tonight? Wednesday at Wembley saw the band open with ‘Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough for the Two of Us’, played live for the first time since 2010, and a cover of Morrissey’s ‘Jack the Ripper’, released on their first-ever EP ‘Like Phantoms Forever’ and played for the first time since 2003.
As the band walk up onto the stage, surrounded by an ocean of fans with arms outstretched, the lead singer announces “we are My Chemical Romance from New Jersey” before the band launches headfirst into certified emo anthem ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’. Guitarist Frank Iero thrashed his way through the classic, throwing his whole body into his performance and taking no prisoners. Way, dressed in a skeleton bodysuit, sauntered around the stage in a way only he can, half beautiful, half completely terrifying. This outfit was a treat for keen-eyed fans who recognised the costume for the ‘Swarm’ tour of 2022. Treats for fans did not stop there, with the band catapulting straight into ‘To The End’ and ‘Black Parade’ B-side ‘My Way Home is Through You’. The band ran around the stage, presenting themselves to their doting audience. Bassist Mikey Way is making hearts and posing with his instrument, clearly having the time of his life. In Tom Bryant’s history of the band ‘The True Lives of My Chemical Romance’, he details the younger Way’s desire to play Wembley Stadium from as early as the band’s first visit to the UK. You can see the excitement painted all over his face as he uses every inch of the stage. Next, Gerard Way announces to the crowd that they are about to play a song they have never played before; fans grab hold of each other in terrified anticipation as the singer announces that the song is to be ‘Danger Days’ B-side ‘Zero Percent’, a drum-and-bass-tinted, murderous romp through the desert. The sheer volume of unhinged screeches from the audience could probably have been heard for miles as the band tore through the song.
The set was non-stop from the get-go, a chocolate box of treats for the die-hards. The cherry on top was the grand finale. The band brought out Jensen once again on cello, as well as her Draag National Auxiliary Band bandmate Kayleigh Goldsworthy on violin. As Gerard Way spoke, the name ‘Demolition Lovers’ screams intensified, fans grabbed hold of each other for strength, and tears began to flow all over again. Given new life with the string arrangement, the ballad of the titular Bonnie and Clyde-esque couple was a beautiful end to the night, torches decorating the room “like diamonds”, as the frontman said, taking it all in during the song’s softer moments. Sang like their lives depended on it through choked tears and held hands, the audience reminded the band of their pact, screaming “I mean this, forever” right back at them.
As the band left the stage, leaving a path of setlist-based destruction in their wake, the fans wished them goodbye and were then left to put themselves back together again. As the lights came up to reveal the mascara-soaked faces and tight embraces of the crowd, there was an irreplicable feeling in the air, one you can only ever get at an MCR show. It is hard to describe, but it is an all-consuming love, a passion that overtakes you.
The ‘Long Live The Black Parade Tour’ has been a triumph. My Chemical Romance have proved to the world their endless artistry and creativity, reinventing a world already so ingrained in the cultural zeitgeist. They took nostalgia, chewed it up and spat it out and gave it an exploding clown to boot. All the while providing a space for fans to come together and revel in their love and passion. As the show continues onto Europe and then back in the States over the summer, the might of Draag will continue its conquest. As for the UK, the British MCRmy are already begging for more, hoping it isn’t long until they can see the band again.
The band can be found here, with a new online hub for the MCRmy launching recently too. Tickets to any future shows are available on their website. It is imperative that you find yourself and an MCR show at least once in your life.
Eylem Boz
Images: Finn Delisle (@finn.delisle)
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