My Chemical Romance San diego, Ca 08.30.26

By:  EmoRoadTrip

It really was never a phase and to pigeonhole New Jersey’s own, My Chemical Romance as just an emo band would be a rookie mistake. Frontman Gerard Way cut his teeth on horror movies, heavy metal, and more importantly, comic books which set him up to be a world class story teller and the Long Live The Black Parade tour is a story that unfolds a little more with each show (but we’ll get back to that in minute).

I trekked from the desert to beautiful San Diego, having watched the tour and story unfold weekly like good episodic television (there is an entire subculture of livestreamers at every show….bless them!). 

As the intention of EmoRoadTrip is not only to give you good readers some rock ‘n roll adventures, but to also give some insight on ADA accessibility at concert and theatre venues. Parking at the Omni Hotel and utilizing their Skybridge to Petco Park was incredibly helpful and made the entry into the ballpark seamless (they do charge $100 for parking for non-guests at the hotel, but it was really worth it, especially on an unseasonably blistering hot day). A little snafu with my tickets, but the LiveNation Guest Services resolved it very quickly and moved me to another seat where I could see both stages.  Exiting the show was just as easy and I highly recommend parking at The Omni for concerts and Padres games.

Back to the show:  the opener was BabyMetal, who I was honestly not really familiar with but they got a massive response from the capacity crowd and though it was not my thing, it was great to see 50,000 people totally digging metal J-Pop.

Photo by FalconLaserbeak

Funny story:  the person next to me wasn’t familiar with the Long Live the Black Parade “lore” and it was quite amusing trying to give him a thumbnail of what has been going on, which I will try to do here.  Starting this tour last summer, MCR has created a dystopian world/time loop/alternate universe where the band, The Black Parade (who “died” in a fire October 2007 in Mexico City) returns night after night to live and play again for the Grand Immortal Dictator in the fictitious country of Draag and his staff (which includes The Clerk, Veronika, another Clerk, and various military officers).  Still with me?  Good.  The show opens with Marianne (opera singer Lucy Joy Altus), a blind opera singer and her handler on the B-stage singing “The Draag National Anthem” with images of oppressed, patriotic workers in the wheat fields of their beloved Draag. As the anthem ends, The Black Parade takes the stage and launches into the full Black Parade album. Intermittently, there are live action bits that move the story along that are just a little bit different every night and the Draag Auxilliary Marching Band, (including Thursday drummer, Tucker Rule) are also a part of the show in addition to adding to the wall of sound.  In San Diego, we were treated to a switch up from His Grand Immortal Dictator (who was wandering around the stadium munching on popcorn and getting drunk) and replaced by Veronika from the Ministry of Operatic Retaliations. Still with me?  Let’s continue: the band was in top form with guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero blazing through the anthemic alternative classic album tracks. Of course, when the first note of “Welcome to the Black Parade” rang out, the stadium went insane and it was really beautiful to hear that many people singing their hearts out to a song that clearly meant/means so much to them.  There is also all kinds of weirdness/drama with the supporting players ordering Gerard Way around like a puppet of a dictator, but it is all played without cheese and makes for a very entertaining theatre production with menace and tongue-in-cheek satire of political discourse.  How does it end?  San Diego’s episode ended in Gerard and the The Clerk being stabbed and “killed” by the 2^nd Clerk dressed as a Pagliacci-like clown and the rest of the band being dragged offstage by the military in a flurry of flames and fireworks, to do it all over in a slightly different format the next show.

After a short interlude/intermission from cellist Clarice Jensen (who was absolutely lovely and the perfect downshift from the madness that just took place), the real My Chemical Romance took to the B-Stage mid-stadium and burst in a banger of a set list, consisting of rare tracks such as Our Lady of Sorrows from I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought My Your Love,  Vampire Money, Thank You for the Venom, It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Fucking Deathwish, and the emo anthems, Helena and I’m Not Ok.  We were also treated to a B-Side of the Danger Days album called Zero Percent. The band played off the energy of the crowd and bassist Mikey Way jumped off the stage a few times to get up close and personal with the fans on the barricade. Tour drummer Jerrod Alexander and keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac fill out the touring band and do a solid job of holding it down.

Photos by xMCKVRx

You still have time to catch the shows as the next stops are five nights at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.