Thursday night I went to see My Chemical Romance at The Warfield and was pretty taken aback.
First of all, the opening act, Billy Talent, blew my mind away. They are that band who inspire you so much after hearing a couple of songs, you immediately want their entire discography and accompanying lyrics. They reminded me of all of that angst and rebelliousness I had in high school. I've become a lot more passive lately and seeing them brought me back to a better time. The same can be said of MCR.
Let's begin with the quality of sound that they displayed. Perfection. Frankie's rhythm worked so well with all of Ray's solos. Mikey and Bob gave some damn good backbone with their respective bass and drums.
Their stage presence: Mikey finally helped me understand why everyone is in lust with him. He embodied that sexy musician in an alternate universe look, with his hair in his face and such concentration to his bass that you'd think he was a robot.
Frank and Ray made out for a few seconds. Priceless.
Gerard and Frank both lit cigs onstage and just started smoking. Their complete lack of concern for CA state laws or getting in trouble with the Warfield people was brilliant.
GERARD IS NO LONGER BLOND! thank goodness. also, he had this constant hip thrust thing while he was singing that drove me cah-razy.He also jumped up and down and urged people to do the same.
Also, they incorporated Bob quite nicely (the drummer is usually forgotten) and Gerard told the audience it was up to him whether or not they finished their set.
Gerard's voice was strained, he seemed completely drained, but he still gave a great performance. Regardless, his voice was overpowered by the music and the audience's singing, because nearly everyone knew all of the lyrics to all of the songs and were singing along. Myself included. Twas brilliant.
The people at the show were what you would classify as "emo" or "outcasts" and I realized how MCR, and music in general, really is all that those people have. I mean I used to be kind of emo in high school. I understand how hard it is not to be accepted by your peers and not to be good enough for your parents. MCR indeed serves as a refuge for these guys.
The set list was amazing. Of course, they played what they told the audience was hailed as MTV's summer anthem of 2004, "I'm not ok (I promise)". Much to my surprise and pleasure, they played my favourite, "House of Wolves". Most of the songs came from their latest record, The Black Parade, a couple from their debut and a handful from Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, including a song which I think is one of the sexiest things of all time: "You Know what they do to guys like us in prison". Oh what that song does to me...
The most moving song was, hands down, "Cancer". Their performed it superbly and the audience's reaction was chilling. It was really obvious how much the song meant to everyone, and to all of us in different ways. Most amazingly, everyone was quiet and attentive, and nobody was singing aloud in a way that overpowered the band. Everyone was in complete unison and harmony, twas beautiful.
They gave an encore with their immensely popular "Helena" which Gerard pronounced "Helayna". Finally, I was confused about how to pronounce that for ages.
So I am going to do what plenty of music mags have done before me without me fully understanding it, and hail My Chem as one of the greatest live acts of today. It wasn't so much about a superb sound (don't get me wrong, they were fucking brilliant but that's not the jest of it) but the atmosphere. They weren't pretentious at all, Frankie took time after the show to take pictures with fans and sign autographs (he was quite patient with my stupid temperamental camera that went off at the wrong time). They were fully involved with the audience without losing their grip as musicians. But most importantly, I know that seeing them perform was probably the highlight of a lot of people's lives. And that's what music is all about. Changing lives and inspiring people. Letting some misunderstood teenager know that someone else has been there and that there is an end to all of the misery which seems like it'll never cease. Gerard told us just to go out there and do what we love. I'm really thankful that he follows his own advice.
Dead!:
"if life aint just a joke, then why are we laughing?" yep, their lyrics kind of kick ass.
My Chemical Romance - House of Wolves [mp3]
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