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My Chemical Romance will take the stage of Yesterday’s Carpenters once again, its simple but gut-wrenching lyrics that serve as a reminder that MCR’s current tour is very ambitious: it celebrates the 20th anniversary of the release of the third album of emo figureheads The Black Parade. An hour-long musing about a dying cancer patient, it was a band throwing everything they could think of at the album, apparently terrified that the platinum success of their predecessor, 2004’s Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, would be short-lived. It sounded as varied as pop punk, Queen, Britpop, glam, heavy metal, Pink Floyd around the Wall and Kurt Weill, deliberately so that when Liza Minnelli appeared on the vocals, the audience did not raise an eyebrow.
As a result, the group became very popular and its reputation only increased in the following years – in some places, it is openly described as the Sgt Pepper of emo. A 2019 article in the New York Times recognized his influence not only in the work of several successive emo groups, but in pop and rap names such as Juice WRLD, Lil Uzi Vert, 100 Gecs, Billie Eilish, Melanie Martinez and Post Malone.
Interestingly, My Chemical Romance seem to have decided that the best way to celebrate an album date is not to make a full album, but to step things up a bit, as if they’ve come to the conclusion that the original was perhaps a little too small for its own good. Now it arrives with a new concept included: a story about a dystopian dictatorship called Draag, which comes not only with its own language, but its own characters, created by director Gerard Way. Grim-faced government officials and soldiers flank the stage as the band sings; an actor playing a head of state sitting on a throne, motionless in the shadows; Way sings Welcome to the Black Parade from the lectern.
It is not clear whether this is all intended as a comment on America’s involvement in authoritarianism – although there is something very disturbing that surrounds Donald Trump about how Way describes the dictator as “the most beautiful person alive” – but it is not clear what should be done. At one point, a brutal execution by firing squad took place in the crowd, followed by the explosion of Boots Randolph’s Yakety Sax, well known as the theme song of The Benny Hill Show. During women’s time, a man with a fire on his back runs across the stage. By the time the band arrives at Famous Last Words, most of the set is engulfed in flames. Things related to the nuclear war appear on the big screen, which can explain the fire, but it does not explain why, in the middle of The End, Way is stabbed by a man dressed as a pierrot: he finishes the song on stage, covered in blood, before the pierrot boy blows up the suicide vest.
It’s not surprising, but, in the same way, it would take a great effort from the audience not to enjoy the constant explosion of visuals and hammy acting, and the idea that My Chemical Romance also knows very well how it all is: The way to sing the annoying ballad Cancerquist for a ventrip pullopet. Also, The Black Parade’s music is strong enough to withstand any image that the group throws: no matter what is happening on stage, the real music cuts through, whether it’s the T Rex-y glam of Teenagers, or I Don’t Love You, which is basically Coldplay’s Yellow with dyed hair, piercing around the eyes.
The second group, which is looking at all their previous books, also shows that classical music is what supports their positive feelings, and their ability to make young people have a high level of drama. Performed without costumes, actors or special events in the center of the stadium, the music is no less or more surprising than what happened at the main event: the hum of Vampire Money, the angry rock of Helena, Na Na Na, a bold combination of punk rock and rococo Brian May-inspired solo. For all the previews that take place at the event, it also feels dated, which is brought down by the fact that most of the audience is too young to remember what’s being released. If the reformers of My Chemical Romance would choose to move forward instead of looking back, one thinks they would be happy.
