ALBANY – Absence, they say, tends to make the heart grow fonder.
However, when the absent party is Newark, NJ’s My Chemical Romance—arguably the most commercially successful and widely adored of the 2000s emo scene—the roughly nine years since the band’s official breakup has helped fuel a renewed mania so massive, the group’s current 2022 reunion arena tour has become one of the hottest tickets of the year.
That was readily apparent before even entering MVP Arena here, as a line of fans seeking to buy merch (including $40 t-shirts) before the show already stretched out the venue’s main doors, down the stairs, and onto the sidewalk. While well attended, but not at full capacity inside, the majority in attendance were obvious diehards, with many paying upwards of $120 just for a general admission floor ticket. The show was destined to be a celebration of My Chem’s long awaited return, before the band even took the stage.
My Chemical Romance has been switching up openers throughout this tour, including old New Jersey scene friends like Thursday, Midtown and the Bouncing Souls at some dates, as well as younger bands like Waterparks, who had the singular honor of opening the Albany show. (Meg Myers, also slated to play, canceled, reportedly due to illness.)
A young Houston-based trio that somehow functions without a bassist, Waterparks won over the crowd early on with their infectious energy and the rock-solid drumming of Otto Wood, despite the likelihood that many in the audience hadn’t ever heard the band before. Vocalist/guitarist Awsten Knight (whose bright pink hair shone like a neon beacon under the lights) remarked multiple times about how it was the band’s first-ever arena show and how surreal the experience was, and it was hard to not be swept away by the genuine emotion behind the moment. For their first huge show, Waterparks killed it.
Then it was nearly time for My Chem, with the audience growing more impatient by moment, as the low rumble that starts off the band’s latest song, “The Foundations of Decay,” shook the arena for a good 10 plus minutes in advance, like the sound of a helicopter slowly approaching. By the time the band—vocalist Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way (with touring drummer Jarrod Alexander and keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac)—took the stage, the crowd had drowned out the PA’s low rumble with a massive roar, which was essentially sustained throughout the group’s roughly 80-minute set.
Ever one for theatrics, Gerard Way has been throwing a deliciously chaotic twist into the mix this tour, donning unique outfits and makeup for each show. One night he wore a cat costume, on another he donned a skeleton outfit, and on yet another, his makeup featured blood pouring from his eyes. Inexplicably, for the Albany show, he chose just a simple pair of jogging shorts, a baggy t-shirt and a strange, transparent plastic face mask. Even weirder, he kept talking about how he’d put too much lotion on his legs, and now he was a slippery mess barely able to hold a mic, yet with no explanation as to why he’d been applying lotion (in large quantity, no less) to his legs in the first place.
Thus it was a quirky, mask-clad Way who led the band through an eclectic set that clearly sought to touch upon every stage of My Chemical Romance’s career, rather than just focusing on the “Greatest Hits” material. Of course, the majority of the performance honored classic MCR records Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge (“I’m Not Okay,” “Helena,” “The Ghost of You,” “Give ‘Em Hell, Kid,” “You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison”) and The Black Parade (“Welcome to the Black Parade,” “This Is How I Disappear,” “Mama,” “Sleep,” “Teenagers,” “Famous Last Words”), but the band even dug deep and went all the way back into the I Brought You My Bullets era, busting out “Our Lady of Sorrows” and “Vampires Will Never Hurt You” as a special treat for the OGs in the crowd.
Newer tracks consisted of the aforementioned “Foundations of Decay,” (which is far more impactful live than the recorded version), material off the band’s last proper full-length, Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys (“Destroya,” and “Na Na Na”), as well as “Tomorrow’s Money” and “Surrender the Night” off the singles collection Conventional Weapons. Even these later and in some cases more obscure picks seemed to go over well without objection from the crowd, which was clearly just ecstatic to simply even be seeing My Chemical Romance live on stage again.
By and large, that was the vibe amongst the band too. Toro, who looked and sounded even more like a guitar god than the last time MCR toured, could barely contain his grin throughout, going out into the crowd to rip his blistering solos, while bassist Mikey Way seemed genuinely thrilled by the love coming from the audience, working every angle of the room. His brother Gerard however, chose to remain oddly detached for most of the set, sitting on the floor Indian-style between songs and making inaudible grunts into the microphone, or twiddling knobs on a whole platter of vocal effects he’s employing live. When he did address the crowd, it was mostly to discuss his slippery legs.
But again, that’s part of the genius of My Chemical Romance. At their very best, the band is wild, chaotic, loud and dangerous. The gigantic reception garnered by The Black Parade, which even had soccer moms singing along in their minivans across America, was simply unsustainable in the long run and arguably set the band on the path toward its nearly 10-year hiatus. Now that they’re back, it’s as if they’re facing a blank canvas again, with no specific expectations for what My Chemical Romance needs to be, or sound like, in 2022.
As incredible as it was to finally see the band live again after all these years, it’s even more exciting now to see what comes next.
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My Chemical Romance – MVP Arena, Albany, NY – 8/30/22 (Photos by Kylie Spinelli)
Waterparks – MVP Arena, Albany, NY – 8/30/22 (Photos by Kylie Spinelli)
