On February the 12th this year, My Chemical Romance made their second appearance in London as the fabulous Killjoys, and what a fabulous night it was. Just lining up outside Wembley arena , waiting to go in, you could feel the excitement in the crowd; all the fans with their killjoy masks and colourful costumes, and some remaining loyal to The Black Parade theme, with the military style jackets. It really was a fantastic sight.
On first entering the arena, the stands are packed with killjoy merchandise : tops displaying the spider logo, patterned bandanas, hoodies featuring each character’s logo and even exterminate posters with their faces on them. There are queues for popcorn, candyfloss and even alcohol, as My Chemical Romance fans range from the age of about 14 up until middle aged people.
As everyone settles in the main arena , the sense of excitement is definitely what you would expect from fans of a band who have been away for four years before the release of Dangers Days, and also a band who really do save lives. There’s also something else... A sense of belonging. Everybody is friendly; everyone’s there for the same purpose, so you already have a mutual interest, and most, if not all, the people there are in roughly the same boat. They don’t fit in with the supposed ‘normal’ people; the cool kids. And that’s what My Chemical Romance are about. They say that it’s okay to be different and you could really feel the warmth and relaxation in there, knowing no one there would judge you, because they know what it’s like to be judged themselves.
The warm-up acts, Lost Alone and The Blackout, come on to a large applause – finally putting an end to the Mexican wave that had been circling the arena for so long that everyone resented it starting - but the seated crowd do not rise from the comfort of their seats until the main acts enter the stage. The screaming is deafening and the pure excitement makes your heart want to burst. Then, there they come, marching onto the stage behind a curtain, to the voice-over that kick-starts the album, and the leading song, Na Na Na. The whole crowd shouts along to the words, and when the curtain drops to reveal the four Killjoys, the whole crowd erupts into screams - and tears for some - practically blowing the roof off of the place.
The band dive straight into their set, finally having a break after four or five fantastic songs. The sound quality is amazing, the songs, although adapted and altered slightly as is always the case when performing live, are lively and animated. Gerard marches around the stage in his naturally charismatic way, Frank is jumping up and down, Ray is head banging with that amazing afro of his and even Mikey is more lively than usual, having gained a lot more confidence on the stage. Their ability to perform the songs and entertain the crowd certainly has not changed, with Gerard running around, jumping all over the place, lying on the stage and even rolling around, still maintaining perfect vocals.
Frank, Ray and Mikey’s fingers move with incredible speed and grace across the fret boards of their guitars, making even the most complicated of songs look easy and effortless. Their guest drummer is also doing a great job, especially considering that songs such as Sing and Vampires Will Never Hurt You rely a lot on drum patterns.
The lighting, colourful and bold, adds to the vibrant, energetic atmosphere of the arena. However, I was extremely thankful for my seated ticket, seeing the amount of people being dragged, many unconscious, from the crowd, although, thankfully, there were guards and stage hands there handing out water. There were also many moshpits breaking out everywhere, ranging from swarming circle-pits to surging walls-of-death. The place was crazy with hyped up fans, feeding off of the energy from the band, and vice versa.
The whole concert was phenomenal and, although My Chemical Romance’s set was maybe slightly disappointingly short, they played a great range of songs, from their very first album, ‘I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love’, to their newest, ‘Danger Days: The True Lives Of The Fabulous Killjoys’ and everything in between.
My Chemical Romance traditionally exited to the tune of ‘Helena’, but the crowd were not accepting that as the end. They screamed and chanted until the band returned to play two encores: ‘Cancer’ and the classic ‘Vampires Will Never Hurt You’, a song which separates true fans, who sing along to every word, from the newbie killjoys fans, who look around, not knowing what to make of the screamo-tinted song, which, along with the fact that some of these new fans appear not to even know the song ‘Helena’, I find rather infuriating.
When the band leave the stage for good, the audience reluctantly make their way out of the arena, many with tears in their eyes, still buzzing from the true bliss of the concert: from not just the fans, glad to see the band back in action, but also from the band, happy to be back in the UK, where they have always said they feel most at home.
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