Welcome Back to The Black Parade: My Chemical Romance at Dodger Stadium 7/26

Written by Claire Hookstra

With two sold-out nights at Dodger Stadium, My Chemical Romance transported the typical baseball venue to the immersive and theatrical world of The Black Parade. Thousands filled the stadium for a night of (fake) executions, puppets, clowns, and …hot dogs. 

A crowd that was a beautifully personified version of “It’s not a phase, mom!” eagerly filled Dodger Stadium on the warm Los Angeles evening on July 26. Each attendee was handed a card with "yea" or "nay" written on each side, to be used later in the show. The industrial-like stage was decorated with gray and maroon accents and “MCR” posted on a large sign in Keposhka, the language that they speak in Draag, the fictional language of the fictional city that lead singer Gerard Way created for the ‘Long Live The Black Parade’ tour. 

For those not in the three-plus hour merchandise lines, Wallows started off the night at 7 p.m. with a 50-minute opening set. An indie boy band may be the last type of group you would consider for an opener for MCR; however, they did not fail to captivate the crowd. Two songs into Wallows’ set, the field and GA pit began to fill, and certain fans stood up and danced through deep cuts “Trust Fall” and “Only Friend.” 

The break between Wallows and the main act was nothing short of entertaining. A picturesque pink sunset sprawled throughout the sky, as humorous concert “rules” and cryptic Draag propaganda written in Keposhka covered the screens in the stadium. 

Before breaking into the show, I feel like I should catch you up to speed on the lore of this tour because if there’s one thing emo bands love… it's world-building and complicated storylines. Essentially, Draag is a city in the Eastern part of Europe, where they speak Keposhka and are under the rule of “The Great Dictator.” The main part of the concert consists of the band, The Black Parade (MCR), playing a special show for The Great Dictator, who sits across the stadium on a throne while the band works through every song on the 2006 album, The Black Parade. 

Immediately, unknowing fans were assured that the show was not a concert, but a theatrical spectacle of the immersive Black Parade album. Just as the night sky grew dark, a solo soldier played the drumbeat of “Welcome to the Black Parade” as he made his way through the crowd to the stage. A funeral procession for an unknown character (speculated by fans to be the band’s ode to late drummer Bob Bryar, but this is unconfirmed) took place before “The End” boomed through the speakers, and the members of My Chemical Romance took the stage to a sea of thunderous applause and screams. "Come one, come all, to this tragic affair!"

“Dead!,” “This is How I Disappear,” and “The Sharpest Lives” were played consecutively, each one characterized by the audience’s echo of the iconic lyrics throughout the stadium. After “The Sharpest Lives,” Way stood behind a podium placed in the center of the stage, smiled deeply at the crowd, and the iconic “G Note” struck the speakers. Chills ran down my spine at the pure dedication of fans singing “Welcome to the Black Parade" at the actual top of their lungs. “When I was / A Young boy /My father / Took me into the city / To see a marching band,” reverberated through the venue, almost like a sacred emo ritual. Way shouted, “Fists like this!” as he triumphantly pumped his fist into the air, and the entire crowd followed suit throughout the song’s opening verses. After screaming so loud there were tears in my eyes, as I’m sure many other people did, the rock-like closing of the song got the audience dancing and shouting, fully immersed in the bass lines and percussion of the song. 

After playing one of the most iconic emo songs in history, Way took his place back on the podium and began explaining the rules of the night's “election-execution” as four “citizens” with bags over their heads appeared on the B-stage in the center of the field. In a perfectly chaotic transition from what felt like the Church of MCR to an execution, a butler character entered the stage with a tray of Dodger Dogs (the name of hot dogs at Dodger Stadium). Handing one to each member of the band, Way asked The Great Dictator what he thought of the gift, just for the screens to show the figure eating a giant hot dog in his throne. Holding the hot dog, Way asked the crowd to vote “Yea” or “Nea” for the execution. Voting almost unanimously for “Yea,” Way took a bite of the hot dog, spit it out, and yelled “Fire!” as an explosion of fake gunshots and fireworks hit the B-stage. 

That’s a lot to take in, right? Ok, well, now the band is going to start playing “I Don’t Love You,” one of the most tragic songs on the album. The emotional whirlwind was definitely something, but the crowd ate up every second of it. Continuing through the album, things remained calm until the intricate and mysterious theatrics of  “Mama.” Mary Ann, an opera singer character in a red dress, harmonized with Way as he sang “Mama, we’re all gonna die” with impressive bursts of fire shooting out from the stage, lighting up the stadium.

Photo courtesy of Etienne Laurent / The LA Times

Undeniably, one of the greatest moments of the night was the finale to The Black Parade set, “Famous Last Words.” As the stage was set on fire, the band poured their hearts into the climactic closing song. The song neared an end as the crowd screamed “I am not afraid to keep on living” into the cool night air as a black and white clown entered the stage. In a brief face-off with Way, the clown stabbed Way as he slowly died, as the song faded away and buckets of confetti flew from the stage awning. As Way lay still onstage, the album’s hidden track, “Blood,” played over the speakers as the clown danced happily, revealed a bomb taped to his stomach, and blew up in front of the crowd. 

What a night! Oh, wait! There’s so much more. 

A brief intermission followed the death scene as The Great Dictator left the stadium as the cellist Clarice Jensen serenaded the crowd. Now, the band the world knows and loves, My Chemical Romance, took the circular B-stage in the middle of the crowd to play ten songs from their discography. No longer following the tragic storyline of the past 90 minutes, vocalist Gerard Way, bassist Mikey Way, guitarists Frank Iero and Ray Toro, and touring drummer Jarrod Alexander broke into the unreleased “War Beneath the Rain.” 

Giving in to the current “surprise song” craze, MCR changes the second half of the setlist with every show. “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” and “Helena” have made the setlist every night, however, being two of the band’s biggest hits. “DESTROYA” was played for the first time on the tour, and the “second best summertime hit, per Way, “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na),” made the list on July 26. Furthermore, what Way claimed to be his favorite MCR song, “Vampires Will Never Hurt You,” was played much to the audience’s praise. 

The second half of the show was a celebration of the My Chemical Romance, the audience playing along with the band’s participation efforts like synchronized hand-waving and head-banging, and it truly seemed like the guys were having the time of their lives onstage. Joking with one another and having fully let loose from the first half of the show, it was refreshing to see the band simply just having a good time. No more Black Parade outfits or crazy lore to follow, it was just fans enjoying the music that they have loved for most of their lives, fully letting it take over. 

Overall, MCR’s ‘Long Live The Black Parade’ tour is something for the history books. The level of thought behind each movement, each stage direction, and each storyline should be studied, for I feel that no one has ever done anything to this level ever before. Fans old and new, young and aged, danced, partied, and sang their hearts out throughout the night in an all-out emo celebration. As a former (let’s face it… current) emo kid, I left the stadium full of joy, disbelief, and overwhelming nostalgia. No matter what is next for MCR, this tour should inevitably be one of their proudest moments.