Oakland, California. Some love it, some don’t and some are terrified. Either way, on March 15, many fans arrived early to the Oracle Arena to see the alternative rock band My Chemical Romance. I on the other hand arrived late, and therefore, missed a whole hour of what I believe was the opening act, alternative-punk band Rise Against. Why I was late? I will tell my journey quickly as possible to get to the review.
Long story short, I took BART to my sister’s work, her car ran out of battery, called tow truck and she told me to go to concert alone. (7:04 pm) So I go take BART and accidentally took the wrong train, and called her to let her know. She laughs at me and said the car started and she was driving around Oakland already. Shot down. If I had waited with her the entire time, I could’ve saved four bucks and been at the show. But no, I had gotten on the wrong train ride (Richmond), and ended up farther than expected. Throughout the whole BART ride, I was thinking “Wtf? I could be at the concert right now if I actually listened and paid attention.”
I arrive at the show alone (my sister had to keep driving around to keep the car running), and am pretty upset that I had missed Rise Against’s set. (8:35 pm) I buy a hoodie and all of a sudden, I see the lights dim towards the entrance and less than a second later, I hear an ear piercing shrill of screams that I’m sure could’ve been heard miles away. Everyone at the merch booth run in and get a spot on the floor, while vocalist Gerard Way sings his heart out triumphantly to a sold-out arena to a song titled “The End.”
After playing their second song, Way spoke in a disturbing accent and introduced the band as The Black Parade. Wearing uniforms similar to Sgt. Pepper’s (only gothed out), they performed the entire Black Parade album while the crowd sang every word to every song. They rocked hard and the crowd showed it as kids, teens, tweens, and adults jumped up and down or even danced like a happy kid getting ice cream or an adult getting their paycheck; and the band fed off from that, so the energetic performance went full circle. There was a moment where Way was speaking and a fan had thrown a glow stick necklace up on the stage, and Way immediately said that The Black Parade absolutely hate glow sticks, which caused several more fans to toss theirs. Having seen blimps on strings, the arena being showered with black and white confetti for five minutes at the end of “Welcome To The Black Parade”, hearing loud booms enough to pierce an eardrum, feeling the heat of pyrotechnic flames, and being blinded by a bright spot light and falling sparks; oh what an amazing night.
Before The Black Parade finished their set, Way called the crowd “a bunch of f***ing glow stick loving motherf*****s” and led the arena to “boo” them offstage, which was a joke because he had told everyone that The Black Parade loved “boos” and then some “cheers” as well. Although some thought the show was over, a track titled “Blood” on the album started playing, making the crowd sing along. The lights dim once again and My Chemical Romance play an amazing set filled with their older songs, starting off with the hit single, “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)”. Way introduced the band as “My Chemical” and then raising his hands and the mic out for the crowd to finish off with “Romance.” He said he wanted mosh pits, so he got mosh pits. The crowd got even crazier and the pits were wild, while others who wanted out, moved away from moshers during “Give Em’ Hell, Kid”. MCR finished off with “Helena”, which was the single that made them widely known thanks to MTV and Fuse.
It was 10:20 pm. Leaving is such a drag; smelly sweaty bodies side-to-side speaking about how many “little kids” were present when they themselves are considered “little kids” to the “elders” who attended and complained as well. From the crowd’s response, Rise Against played an amazing show, while the total highlight of the night was My Chemical Romance coming out to perform songs from their second album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge.
