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My
Chemical Romance: a saga and a shadow of an alter ego
Allstate Arena – Rosemont, IL, United States – March 1, 2007
By Terra Cooney
First
with a beautifully painful saga, then as a shadow of the
past, My Chemical Romance beckoned us to "Come one come all
to this tragic affair." But we, the masses, piled into a
stifling Allstate Arena on the 1st of March and tuned into
something much less dreadful instead. The fans were
enchanted with a merriment of alter egos as the band took on
two personas, one as those clad in black and white Sgt.
Pepper's suits reminiscent of "The Black Parade" video, and
the other as the guys in the black and leather garb we first
associated with their name.
The
five-year-old band started at "The End." literally. The
performance opened up with the song from the latest album
The Black Parade, though the stage was set much like the
televised introduction to the title track. A ghastly scene
that mirrored "The Black Parade" video featured lead singer,
Gerard Way in a large hospital gown, as he rose from an old
roll-away hospital bed. Suddenly the cape came off to reveal
the singer, his face shocked in white paint. The backdrop
disappeared to unveil an elaborate stage set much like
something right out of Lemony Snicket's "A Series of
Unfortunate Events" books and the band began performing a
collection of songs from their recent release. Though the
vocals seemed faint in comparison to the music, they pulled
off their lonely lyrics in "This Is How I Disappear," "The
Sharpest Lives" and "Mama," many performances of which
incorporated vertical shooting flames, loud firework effects
and lots of light.
When
My Chemical Romance sang "The Black Parade," Gerard stepped
into a large spotlight and was joined on either side of the
stage by small black and white zeppelins. The performance
continued like a Black Parade bill as fans became almost an
army in awe. Way was like a marching band leader taking
quirky dance breaks and even one pause in song to whimper
into the microphone while pawing at his face and sending the
crowd shrieking. The vocalist didn't fail to address the
ill-fated disease "Cancer" with his solo performance and the
band gave us a couple more like "Mama" and "I Don't Love
You," before the stage went black. The sounds of "Blood,"
the hidden track, filled the arena.
Just
when we thought the night had ended on a somewhat
wonderfully horrific note, the My Chemical Romance we knew
before the latest costume conversion came back to the stage
to sing more of the melodramatic lyrics we fell in love with
from Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. They hit us with a
whole new stage set and heightened presentations of "Ghost
Of You" and "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" among others while
jumping around the stage and donning props (bunny ears and a
pink boa) from the audience. Not before they declared that
they are not "emo" nor a "death band" and encouraged all in
the crowd to continue to be themselves, did they close out
their set with " Helena." The ballad gave us the perfect
ending as the band bid us "so long and goodnight" by turning
their backs to the sea of supporters and exited stage left.
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