Current mood:

ecstatic...and hungry

F-list, feel completely free to skip over my three and a half pages of account-ness.
The show was AMAZING. So so so amazing. Wow. Yeah, anyway. I wrote up my account just now, solely so that I'll never forget it. It's three and a half pages long. I'm going to post it here and make a post on chemicalromance with a link so that anyone who wants to can read it. I'm sure there are tons already so I may just leave it in a comment.

I know that most of you on my f-list don't care for things like this, so don't feel like you need to read it or anything. If you wanted to know how it went anyway, I'll still tell you when we talk. :D

I forgot to mention that the whole show was three hours and My Chem played for an hour and a half. XD

Manchester, New Hampshire; February 22, 2007
My Chemical Romance and The Black Parade,
With guests, Rise Against

We got to the venue, the Verizon Wireless Arena (nice place), at about six o’clock PM – a half hour before the doors were supposed to open. It was really cold. We got really pretty close to the building, considering how late we got there. It’s lucky we did, too, because the people who got there after us had this huge line they had to stand in.

So we’re standing in the freezing cold. It’s getting dark and then it starts to snow. Oh, man, we wanted to go in – everyone did, if only to just sit and get warmed up. It appeared that we may be getting our wishes at one point, but it was just a guy with a megaphone telling us that the band had asked that they hold the doors for another twenty to thirty minutes. Pretty much the only thing I can say about that is, damn, it was cold. But, oh, so worth it, as I’m sure you can imagine.

They opened the doors at around seven. People weren’t surging forward, as I had expected. Turns out the security of the venue was patting people down. I thought it was pretty crazy, but this was only my second concert. Maybe it’s a common thing? I don’t know, but they definitely didn’t do it in Portland (Maine).

Anyway, once we were finally inside, my parents (yes, parents) wanted food and drinks. I told them that I could survive being hungry for one night of my life. I really just didn’t want to risk puking. About an hour and a half later I was really regretting not getting anything to drink.

We had really good seats (seats because my parents are paranoid about me dying on the floor – I am, too, a little bit). We were in the section second closest to the stage, which is great because this way you’re pretty close and you can see the whole band.

Rise Against started on time, despite the fact that the place wasn’t even half full yet – so many people were still waiting outside! I was shocked that they started so soon. It must have been weird playing for a room only half full of kids.

Their set was really loud, but very enjoyable – for me anyway. You couldn’t hear much of any of the songs, but I was content to just feel the bass vibrating in my chest. I’m very easily amused, I guess. I was pretty disappointed though, because no one was moving at all really. They were hardly moving in the pit, let alone in the seats. I really wanted to just jump up and dance around, but I didn’t want to be the only one for fear of blocking someone’s view. It didn’t seem that they cared much though, because people kept leaving and there were lots of others who were still just getting there. Really, it’s a good thing that no one stood up, but I’ll get to that later.

They didn’t play for very long. They had a lot of cool lights and a screen with some of their album art in the middle and white on the sides. They projected images and different light on the sides throughout the show. The entire time, though, I was worrying about My Chem’s set. I really did not want to just sit there when my favorite band came on. I kept thinking, When My Chem get on that stage, these people will either have to sit and watch around me or stand up with me, because I’m not just sitting here.

As it turns out, I didn’t have to worry.

When the lights went out from taking away Rise Against’s set-up, everyone surged to their feet and screamed. I was one of them, too. The change from the two sets was incredible. Also, by this point, everyone was inside.

The stage was dark and there was a big black curtain pulled around most of it. Then Gerard started singing “The End” and when I looked to the front of the stage, he was in a hospital gown and getting off a gurney. It was just so cool. And then, as he continued singing, the curtain was pulled back to reveal the rest of the band and set. It was amazing! And so cool. Bob was on a circular platform that looked kind of like a stone pillar. I’m not sure what it was supposed to be, but whatever it was, it looked pretty awesome. They were all in uniform, including the keyboard player (I missed his name, but he’s from Reggie and the Full Effect – Gerard said so later on in the set). The backdrop was the city from “Welcome to the Black Parade” and at the top it had the stars from the photoshoot that came with the Limited Edition Black Parade. On the sides of the backdrop there were pictures that looked like these really funky buildings – I’m not entirely sure, though.

It was amazing. They played all of The Black Parade, straight through. They were in uniform the entire time (during “The End”, Gerard ripped off his hospital gown to reveal his uniform underneath).

I’ll try to remember specific things in the order that they happened, but I won’t always be able to pair it with a song.

After “Welcome to the Black Parade”, Gerard yelled, “Welcome to the Black Parade!” and everyone screamed. It may or may not have been then that these two blimps came out beside the stage. That was pretty cool. Oh, and at the end of “Dead!” and again at the end of “WTTBP” there was this loud cannon sound. And I believe that it was after “WTTBP” that these confetti guns went off and the whole place filled with shiny confetti – that was awesome, too. It was after that that Gerard said, “I think you all know what this song is,” and they started playing “I Don’t Love You”.

At some point, sometime during the middle of the Black Parade performance, Gerard said, “Now you all know that this is the first night that Frank Iero is back with us,” or something along those lines. Everyone screamed, of course. They kept playing after that, I think.

During “Sleep” Gerard walked over to Mikey and put his arm around his shoulder so his hand was draped over his other one – you know how he does that. And at some point, I don’t remember when but I’m pretty sure it was after he went to Mikey, Gerard walked to Frank and ruffled his hair. It was actually really cute. Throughout the show, he did a lot of that thing he does – where he puts one hand on his hip, bends one knee a bit and…I don’t know if he twists or bounces or what, but if I’m honest with myself then it was more than a little sexy.

Now, during this entire thing, I was screaming before and after every song, singing along to all the lyrics as loud and as hard as I could, throwing my fist up and jumping whenever the music fit the action. I must have looked like a complete lunatic but, to be completely honest, I didn’t care then and I don’t care now. But God, by the end of Famous Last Words, I thought I was going to pass out. My parents both had drinks but they were gone by this point. I felt like I would puke or faint or both. At one point I remember thinking, Maybe I should go to the bathroom, just in case, and then I looked at the stage and my Fuck no was really more of a feeling than an actual thought.

I didn’t cry at all during the entire thing. I thought I’d cry when they came out and again at “Famous Last Words” but I didn’t at all. I just screamed a fucking lot.

Anyway, after “Famous Last Words” they left the stage but the lights were still off so everyone just kept screaming. It didn’t take them long to come back. At some point they closed the curtain, and while they were gone, they played “Blood”. I can’t remember now if they were really playing and singing it or just playing it off the album. I think it was probably the latter, I’m just not sure.

When they opened the curtain again, God, it was so great, the Revenge backdrop was up (the one with the “swirl of guns”) and they were all out of their uniforms. I was expecting them to play a couple songs, maybe “Not Okay” and “Helena” so I was really shocked (in a very, very, very good way) when they did what they did. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to remember the exact order of the songs but I’ll try. In any case, I’ll get the right songs. They played “Not Okay” first, then “Not a Fashion Statement”, they played “Cemetery Drive” and “Ghost of You”, “Give 'Em Hell, Kid”, “Prison” and “Helena”. I think it was that order. [And now that I've read another review, it seems that this order is correct.]

During “Prison”, Gerard went up to somebody, it was either Frank or Mikey, and started poking their crotch. Yeah, seriously. I was a bit focused on said crotch, to be honest, so I’m not entirely sure which of the two it was. At the time I was sure it was Mikey, because his guitar was light and Frank had been using a reddish one, but when I looked at Frank a couple minutes later, he had a white guitar.

Also, at some point, Gerard said something about, “Coming back as My Chemical Romance for you.” Throughout the whole show, he talked a bit about how it was their first real, official tour of the US since Revenge and about how, “It’s great to be back in America!”

Before “Helena” he said, “This is how we’re going to say goodnight.” It was so amazing to watch them play that one. I believe it was in this song that Ray went to the front of the stage, got down on his knees and just started wailing on his guitar. It was so many kinds of awesome. Also, maybe during this song, maybe another song off Revenge, Frank did that thing where he lays back with his knees bent, like legs folded underneath him. And at some point Mikey, Frank, Gerard and Ray were all lined up along the stage. (I also completely forgot to mention that during the Black Parade part, there were a couple bursts of fire from four different spout-things up near Bob. We could feel the heat from where we were so I can only imagine what it must have been like for him – poor guy.)

There was so much screaming after the song ended and they did their end-of-show thing where they just kind of keep doing these bursts of sound. I think Gerard bowed. And then they left and the lights came on. I had to sit down because my legs were all weak from standing and jumping and I was so hungry and so thirsty. It literally took me a half an hour to breathe correctly again and twenty minutes before my legs would work properly.

It was so, so, so, extremely amazing. I can’t stress it enough. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier than when I was watching them up there, singing my heart out and screaming away my lungs. My first My Chemical Romance concert couldn’t have been better, I don’t think. I feel quite a bit sad now that it’s over, but hopefully this account will help me remember everything. I don’t know how I’m going to wait until May sixth. But at least I have May sixth! Only two and a half more months before I see them again!

EDIT: Holyy fuck, FLW is playing on the radio and my MOM was on, talking about the concert. She called in and the DJ put her on and told her she's a "rockin' mom". XD