My Chemical Romance Come Back Tour Is One Not To Miss

By
E Jepson
-
Photo provided by My Chemical Romance, All Rights Reserved.

My Chemical Romance is an American rock band that formed in 2001. After 12 years, together the band split up in 2013. As the years went on, many fans lost hope of ever seeing their favourite band live again, so when the band made a social media post back in 2019 signaling the band was reforming, everyone was ecstatic. A few UK dates were announced to take place in mid 2020 but sadly due to Covid they were postponed till 2022. More dates were to be announced, a full tour was soon to take place and everyone wanted to be there. Tickets to a 30,500 capacity venue sold out in minutes. Former emos donned eyeliner, black nail polish and skinny jeans; My Chemical Romance is back!

19th May 2022

Queues of cars flooded onto the A5 as gig-goers made their way to Stadium MK, an hour-long queue just to get into the car park was met by queues all around the venue to get in. Swarms of black clothing and hair dye gathered around merch stands, food stalls and bars, as everyone waited eagerly for the first band, Witch Fever, to come on. Not only were the standard shirts with tour dates sold at the merch stands a couple of unusual pieces awaited fans: A white shirt with MCR featured on the cover of made up teen magazine ‘Boy Zone’ was proudly displayed overhead and a second more surprising item was a black shirt with a picture of the retired gay porn star turned musician, Mickey Taylor, who has a My Chemical Romance tramp stamp. Taylor re-tweeted a fan’s tweet of a picture of the shirts saying  ‘It’s 100% real!. Real talk. The lgbt and sex worker love here. So cool to be part of one of my favourite bands merch! It’s surreal!’.

‘The origins of the shirt, though, began when he received and email from a member (“shan’t name names”) inquiring about his tattoo. Although at first Taylor was afraid that he was being sued, it turned out that the unnamed member had seen the tattoo from one of his “movies” (quotes his) and “thought it was cool”. The member added that Gerard Way also though it was cool and “Wondered if I’d be down to take some photos for the merch.”‘ – Them.us

First up was Witch Fever (taking over from Aviva who unfortunately couldn’t play), next was Lost Alone, Placebo and then the moment everyone had been waiting years for, MCR entered the stage. As the band strode in, the crowd let out an enormous cheer reaching 101dB! Gerard’s outfit was a nostalgia trip back to 2005, dressed in a white suit and tie splattered with blood, a black belt and boots, and a white mask -with the Metaverse logo (∞ Meta) drawn- covering his face apart from his left eye and mouth, took a can of spray paint to make a ‘1’ on drummer, Jarrod Alexanders, kick drum: signifying the first of three incredible performances at Stadium MK.

“I feel so powerful” Gerard Way announces through a PTSD (Post Traumatic Signal Disorder) synth: A voice he has called “Meta Man Voice”, before taking a drink and letting it run out of his mouth and down his face. For the third time ever, ‘The Foundations of Decay’ is played. As we hit the breakdown, the black backing curtain drops behind the band to reveal an apocalyptic scene of buildings broken down. The band wastes no time proceeding straight into the next song, Helena, the crowd bounces around joyously, yelling out the lyrics. “Fuck yeah”, shouts Gerard as the song finishes, pulling off the mask to reveal white face paint with blood on. After ‘Give ‘Em Hell, Kid’ Gerard takes a second to say “This is awesome, we want to thank you guys so much, this is so much fun, this is so very bizarre” referencing the fact this is their third gig in 10 years. Uncommonly MCR decided to change up the setlist every night “Different every night, never know what you’re going to get”, Way comments. As the band proceeded into their 5th song, ‘Teenagers’, a sea of phones appears. No matter what band covers the song at gigs all across the world, the response is incredible; so there was no doubt that everyone in the audience that night would be singing and dancing along.

An incredible start to the night was met by an incredible sunset opposite the stage. Oranges, pinks and blues filled the sky and matched the stage so perfectly it was like it was planned. As everyone looked towards the sky, Way thanked the openers explaining the last time he saw Placebo was at his wedding. “I do believe, actually I’m positive the last time I saw those dudes was when I got married in the summer to the love of my fucking life and this song is about that”, Way remarked before the band erupted into ‘Summertime’. An awe-inspiring scene filled the venue as fans held their phone torches up in the air, swaying them to the beat of the song “I haven’t seen you in a very long time”. Way began after the song, “All that stuff, all that stuff lit up, what is that stuff? Is that your telephone? We’re… um… look I really don’t feel that old, I’m sorry, I think the oldest is 45? Anyway, but, but I believe were old enough that there were lighters still, then like the phone shit started happening”. Way commented as thousands of phone torches went down and were quickly replaced by lighters. A sea of warm, hopeful orange lighting flooded the crowd. Though MCR has had many years away from their fans, there is obvious care and connection that the band and audience have. After ‘DESTROYA’ fans caught Way’s attention, “What, What happened?” Way asked caringly, “Is somebody down? They need help over there, Can we get a light on them?” called out Gerard as security rushed to help the people. A small gesture like that separates bands out from the ones who perform for the love of it and the ones only in it for the money and fame. Kind acts like this are a common thing across MCR’s gigs and adds a sense of security and safety.

All it took was one note to get the fans screaming, a single ‘G’: Fans hollered, cheerfully as the opening to ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ began; One of the most, if not the most recognisable song the band have created reaching over 532 million streams on Spotify. As the Tempo slows down for ‘The Ghost of You’ the energy did not waver. Phone torches and lighters reappear as everyone sways and sings along. Next up, ‘It’s Not A Fashion Statement, It’s A Deathwish’, a song that was last performed in 2007 has finally seen the light of day again was almost immediately followed by ‘Thank You for the Venom’, which got the crowd dancing around as intense lighting changes happened on stage. ‘Venom’ was closely tailed by ‘Mama’ and ‘Famous Last Words’. A quick round of Gerard and the audience saying “rats” took place before Gerard telling a story of how he gained a cat over the pandemic and how the cat brings him rats. As ‘The Kids From Yesterday’ came to an end, a sadness swept over the venue as the band exited the stage. No one was sure whether to leave or not as they didn’t want it to be over so soon, so a chant of “one more song” engulfed the venue.

Little did the audience know but there were still 5 more songs to go…. 3 minutes passed before Way returned to the stage again, holding a flag and wearing a jacket. “Thank you guys so much! So this is kind of crazy because um… this is our 3rd show and I think it was actually our first night we were up there doing, you know, having a fucking good time and I was talking about like uh…  its been 2 and a half years, how has it been for you? And things like that and it occurred to me later, after the second show that there was probably a bunch of people that were going to be at these shows that aren’t here with us anymore and so um… just a, thing was, yesterday a friend of mine told me there was some people on the internet who had gotten a list, best they could, of names of people who were going to come to the show” Way explained as he held the flag aloft for everyone to see the names, A large clap encapsulated the venue in remembrance of those people who tragically lost their life: The flag was created by Twitter user @Cemeterycure.

 

First on the list for the encore was ‘Skylines and Turnstiles’, which hadn’t been played live since 2011 and the album version (which they played here) since 2004. Finally, this encore was finished off by ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’ which was nicknamed “the greatest summer jam of all time”. The band left the stage and again unsure fans loitered in case there was more, Luckily they did as minutes later ‘Goodnite, Dr. Death’ blared over the speakers. As the band casually strolled on for one last song the crowd went wild again. ‘Vampire Money’ was an excellent choice to round off an incredible night. As the song came to a close and the band left the stage for the final time that night, the stadium lights came on signalling the end had finally come.

An incredible performance by Frank Iero and Ray Toro on guitars, Mikey Way giving a fantastic performance on Bass, The talented Gerard Way on Vocals, An intense performance by Jarrod Alexander on Drums and James Dewees giving an impeccable performance on Keys.

A gig everyone had been waiting for for many years and a band that many thought they would never see live had put on the most incredible performance.

Set List –

  1. The Foundations of Decay
  2. Helena
  3. Give ‘Em Hell, Kid
  4. Make Room!!!!
  5. Teenagers
  6. Summertime
  7. The Only Hope for Me Is You
  8. Boy Division
  9. DESTROYA
  10. Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
  11. Welcome to the Black Parade
  12. The Ghost of You
  13. It’s Not A Fashion Statement, It’s A Deathwish 
  14. Thank You for the Venom
  15. Mama
  16. Famous Last Words
  17. The Kids From Yesterday

ENCORE 1

  1. Skylines and Turnstiles 
  2. I’m Not Okay (I Promise)

ENCORE 2

  1. Goodnite, Dr. Death
  2. Vampire Money

 

22nd May 2022

Tonight’s show started with a Nova film clip about rats. The rats most likely are a metaphor for the 30,000 emo’s who descended on Milton Keynes tonight or may have a wider meaning for an upcoming song or album as rats have been mentioned most nights. As My Chemical Romance took to the stage for the third time at Stadium MK, the energy from the fans was enormous. ‘The Foundations of Decay’ was first followed by Way commenting “Welcome to the world we live in, the wonderful world of rats” before the band threw themselves into ‘Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)’. “You are all fucking beautiful, look at this place tonight! Look at the energy! I’m just going to take a moment and drink you the fuck in” Way exclaims after messing around with his “Meta Man” voice. “Right you want to keep going with this fucker?” Way questioned, not waiting for a response before the band dived into ‘Give ‘Em Hell, Kid’. As the song came to a close Way took to speaking to the crowd again and began explaining the ever-changing setlist, stopping to alert security to the fact someone needed help. “Alright, actually we’ve been so excited that I actually wanted to take an opportunity to talk about that kinda shit so alright. Your friend, your neighbour, someone you know, someone with you. They go down, try make some space, try pick them up”, Way said compassionately. The crowd roared with appreciation “then something that was happening the other night was, a lot of the kids up front are getting crushed, you know were going to get super fucking excited when the songs are happening but then sometimes, in between were going to just like chill back up a little, put on your fucking yoga pants. So why don’t we take an opportunity to practice that skill? Ok, on the count of three I just want everybody… but my dear we’re going to practice this skill, it’s a very important skill. So on the count of 3, I’m going to go 1,2,3 everyone just going to calmly back up a little” As Way counted down the most unusual sight was observed, a sea of thousands of people moved back all at once. “There are no cheap seats at the ‘My Chem’ show”, Way commented addressing the people in the seats. “Ok cool, we’re going to play something from revenge” Gerard segued into ‘Cemetery Drive’. Mikey Way took to the mic, “Hey everybody”, he began, “So I have 2 remarkably amazing daughters named Rowan and Kennedy and this is their favourite My Chemical Romance song, so it’s dedicated to them. Love you girls”. Mickey proclaimed, stepping back as the intro to ‘Helena’ flooded the stadium. Again, looking out for fans Gerard called attention to a fan in need of help. “Hold your hands up where the problem is”, Way commanded, “I think that guy just pointed at me” causing everyone to laugh. ‘Boy Division’, ‘House of Wolves’ and ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ followed pulling in intense reaction from the crowd. MCR is truly not afraid of stopping the show to help out audience members. Way tried many times to start a story of a conversation he and Toro had after the first MK gig but kept stopping to help out fans who needed to get out of the pit. Whilst waiting, Way drew attention to his and Iero’s shirts. Iero’s was yellow read “Piss” and Way’s read “Vinegar” which the crowd found funny. Before continuing his story he got everyone to move back a step, allowing the people at the front more room.

“We deserve to live, right?” The crowd cheered, “In a real world with real things, and real people. So we don’t want your metaverse. We don’t want you having every single detail of our lives and control over it. So if you know how I feel about living your life on a screen and giving everything, giving these corporations everything. Living in a new and beautiful exciting virutalistic fucking world. I feel the same way that David Lynch does watching movies on your telephone. Look it up! You know, here’s the thing, I’m not judging, no judgement. You do your thing on there, I’ve done my thing. Maybe in the future I’ll do some more computer shit. There can be great things to share on there; your art, your friends, you probably might have met your best friend on the computer-net. Just don’t give those bastards everything. Keep stuff for yourself, and the people you love. People think ‘he’s crazy, he’s unhinged, he’s come unglued’. That may be the case but I am free now. Do you want to be free? Embrace the world! Embrace the plain! Embrace the unfair! Embrace the absurd!”, Way prophesied. Seven songs pass exciting the crowd further. The lights drop and Way gets a serious tone in his voice.

“So, just in our camp, on our stage… We’ve lost some very dear, loved people, family, to a disease. Different disease, we haven’t played this song in a very long time. We didn’t do it at the shrine because it was too hard, we going to do it right now, for you, for us”, Way turns around with his hands on his head and walks back to the drum riser as ‘Cancer’ begins. A tough song for anyone to listen to especially if you have been through cancer or know someone who has. There was barely a dry eye in the stadium after they finished. As the song finished the band left the stage only to come back a few minutes later for an encore of ‘Headfirst for Halos’ and ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’.

An incredible almost two hour performance by all. To cap off an amazing night, around an hour after the end of the gig Milton Keynes saw a meteor fly through the night sky. The perfect way to end the evening.

Set List –

  1. The Foundations of Decay
  2. Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
  3. Give ‘Em Hell, Kid
  4. Cemetery Drive
  5. Helena
  6. Boy Division
  7. House of Wolves
  8. Welcome to the Black Parade
  9. Teenagers
  10. The Ghost of You
  11. DESTROYA
  12. The Only Hope for Me Is You
  13. Vampire Money
  14. Thank You for the Venom
  15. Mama
  16. S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W
  17. Famous Last Words
  18. Cancer

ENCORE

  1. Headfirst for Halos
  2. I’m Not Okay (I Promise)

Instagram | Facebook | Website | Spotify

Show Dates: 19th May and 22nd May 2022
Previous articleWarpaint Turns Paradiso In One Big Ecstatic Dance Party
Next articleA Richmond Symphony Journey, Valentina’s Inferno, and Beethoven’s 9th
E Jepson
E Jepson
Born and raised in London, I have always had a passion for photography. From a young age I have borrowed my parents cameras to go off on my own photography adventures. After many years of 'hand-me-downs' and borrowing of my parents cameras I was lucky enough to receive a 'wish' from a charity called Starlight who gave me an amazing camera. This pushed me into enjoying and learning about photography more. My love of music combined with my love of photography and entered me into the world of concert photography, which is now my main area of focus. It's such a great feeling to be able to capture a moment of pure joy between the crowd and artist which can't be found outside of gigs. I love capturing that moment, the emotion, the power and the energy that surrounds the event. There is just something about the raw rush and power of a gig that always pulls me back for more.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR