{"id":97777,"date":"2025-07-27T22:10:13","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T22:10:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/97777\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T22:10:13","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T22:10:13","slug":"my-chemical-romance-unleashes-the-black-parade-on-dodger-stadium-orange-county-register","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/97777\/","title":{"rendered":"My Chemical Romance unleashes \u2018The Black Parade\u2019 on Dodger Stadium \u2013 Orange County Register"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>In a night full of crazy moments \u2013 and emotional, funny and tragic ones, too \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailynews.com\/2019\/12\/21\/my-chemical-romance-comes-back-roaring-for-first-reunion-show-at-the-shrine-in-la\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">My Chemical Romance<\/a>\u00a0recreated its 2006 signature album\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocregister.com\/2007\/03\/08\/my-chemical-romances-victory-parade\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">\u201cThe Black Parade\u201d<\/a> at Dodger Stadium on Saturday, July 26,<\/p>\n<p>How crazy? As flames licked the edges of the stage while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailybreeze.com\/2022\/10\/13\/my-chemical-romance-thrills-fans-during-its-five-night-residency-at-kia-forum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">My Chemical Romance<\/a> reprised \u201cThe End.\u201d singer\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ocregister.com\/2014\/10\/09\/gerard-way-debuts-hesitant-alien\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Gerard Way<\/a>, performing a big dramatic moment in which an actor playing the sad clown Pierrot appeared to stab him, crawled across the stage into closeup on the screens and sang like it was his last breath, \u201cSave me.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bonkers, right? (And to be clear, it was all part of the act; he was fine.)<\/p>\n<p>This shouldn\u2019t be a surprise, of course. My Chemical Romance has long been a band of big ambitions and ideas. And the concept album \u201cThe Black Parade,\u201d which follows the journey of a character known only as the Patient as he considers the disappointments and defeats of his life and approaching death, offers a canvas on which to paint.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"mng-gallery-initialized mng-gallery-slider\">\n<li data-index=\"1\" class=\"mng-ge mng-gallery-active\" id=\"mng-ge-0\" aria-hidden=\"false\" tabindex=\"0\"><img alt=\"Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance performs on night one...\" class=\"size-article_inline\"  \/>\n<p>Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance performs on night one of two at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"2\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-1\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"My Chemical Romance performs on night one of two at...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/LDN-L-MYCHEM-0728-DK-02.jpg\" \/>\n<p>My Chemical Romance performs on night one of two at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"3\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-2\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance performs on night one...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/LDN-L-MYCHEM-0728-DK-10.jpg\" \/>\n<p>Frank Iero of My Chemical Romance performs on night one of two at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"4\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-3\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"My Chemical Romance performs on night one of two at...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/LDN-L-MYCHEM-0728-DK-07.jpg\" \/>\n<p>My Chemical Romance performs on night one of two at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"5\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-4\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Michael Way of My Chemical Romance performs on night one...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/LDN-L-MYCHEM-0728-DK-04.jpg\" \/>\n<p>Michael Way of My Chemical Romance performs on night one of two at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"6\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-5\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"My Chemical Romance fans sing-a-long during their performance at Dodger...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/LDN-L-MYCHEM-0728-DK-06.jpg\" \/>\n<p>My Chemical Romance fans sing-a-long during their performance at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"7\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-6\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"My Chemical Romance performs on night one of two at...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/LDN-L-MYCHEM-0728-DK-09.jpg\" \/>\n<p>My Chemical Romance performs on night one of two at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"8\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-7\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance performs on night one...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/LDN-L-MYCHEM-0728-DK-03.jpg\" \/>\n<p>Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance performs on night one of two at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"9\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-8\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance performs on night one...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/LDN-L-MYCHEM-0728-DK-01.jpg\" \/>\n<p>Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance performs on night one of two at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li data-index=\"10\" class=\"mng-ge\" id=\"mng-ge-9\" aria-hidden=\"true\" tabindex=\"-1\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"From right, Gerard Way and Michael Way of My Chemical...\" class=\"lazyload size-article_inline\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/LDN-L-MYCHEM-0728-DK-05-1.jpg\" \/>\n<p>From right, Gerard Way and Michael Way of My Chemical Romance perform on night one of two at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Show Caption<\/p>\n<p>1 of 10<\/p>\n<p>Gerard Way of My Chemical Romance performs on night one of two at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles on Saturday, July 26, 2025. (Photo by Drew A. Kelley, Press-Telegram\/SCNG)\n<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#\" class=\"icon-enlarge mng-gallery-fullscreen-expand\" aria-label=\"Expand fullscreen slideshow\">Expand<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Taking a swing this big, though, comes with risks: You might end up with something like Spinal Tap\u2019s Stonehenge moment. But My Chemical Romance took its cut \u2013 and knocked it out of the ballpark on the first of two shows at the Los Angeles stadium this weekend.<\/p>\n<p>The Long Live The Black Parade Tour is My Chemical Romance\u2019s first-ever stadium tour, a remarkable feat on its own given the band broke up in 2013 after a dozen years, and only reformed for good in 2022 for a tour that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailybreeze.com\/2022\/10\/13\/my-chemical-romance-thrills-fans-during-its-five-night-residency-at-kia-forum\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">played five nights at the Kia Forum<\/a>, which in hindsight was a hint at how popular the band remained.<\/p>\n<p>For the current tour, My Chemical Romance is playing \u201cThe Black Parade\u201d as the Black Parade, the alter ego band it created for the album\u2019s original tour. While the military marching band-like costumes remain the same, the concept has added layers of context to add to its Grand Guignol theatricality.<\/p>\n<p>The show opened with the national anthem of Draag, a fictional dictatorship ruled by \u201cthe grand, immortal dictator,\u201d as Way referred to the actor wearing a floor-length cape over formal military garb who sat in a throne-like chair, two soldiers at either side, to watch the performance.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTonight\u2019s show has been brought to you by the Ministry of Complimentary Recondition,\u201d he noted at one point, the explanation, perhaps, for why the tour announcement last fall said that the band\u2019s work permit had been \u201cceremoniously reinstated.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The slow martial rhythms of \u201cThe End.\u201d opened the show as it does the album, and from the first note, the packed stadium roared, first with cheers, then with seemingly everyone within eyeshot singing loudly along. \u201cDead!\u201d picked up the pace, and like nearly every song during \u201cThe Black Parade\u201d half of the concert, fans stood and sang and sang some more.<\/p>\n<p>The towering stage featured a backdrop that depicted a Brutalist concrete metropolis for much of the early part of the show, shifting later at times to vintage images of factory workers and peasants \u2013 two goose-stepping soldiers ceremonially delivered sheaves of wheat to the stage before its start \u2013 and later images of missile launches and a Soviet Bloc-style TV game show.<\/p>\n<p>The band, in addition to Gerard Way, included his brother Mikey Way on bass, guitarists Frank Iero and Ray Toro, and touring musicians Jamie Muhoberac on keyboards and Jarrod Alexander on drums. Each wore a variation of the military band costume, some with brocades across the chest and cords over the shoulders, some with ornate red sashes.<\/p>\n<p>After the furious pace of \u201cThe Sharpest Lives\u201d ended, the slow, plaintive piano melody that opens \u201cWelcome to the Black Parade\u201d drew the loudest roar of the night so far. There\u2019s a reason this one is one of My Chem\u2019s most beloved songs: It makes a connection between band and audience that brings them into an embrace.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was a young boy \/ My father took me into the city \/ To see a marching band,\u201d Way sings in the song in the character of the Patient, remembering a long-gone happy moment. \u201cHe said, \u2018Son, when you grow up \/ Would you be the savior of the broken \/ The beaten and the damned?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>My Chemical Romance has long rejected the label of emo for their music, and that\u2019s fair. The band is a rock band that includes aspects of \u201970s glam rock, furious punk tempos, and much more. But it also makes an undeniably emotional connection with fans, employing lyrics that address themes from death and mental struggles to resilience and triumph, and that\u2019s a large part of what\u2019s made them a stadium act more than two decades into their career.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCancer,\u201d provided one of the most moving images of the night. As Way sang the softer song about the disease that will take the Patient\u2019s life, fans held up cell phones, though this time thousands of them glowed red thanks to small slips of red paper, some of them shaped as hearts, that covered the flashlight beams.<\/p>\n<p>The back half of the album picked up the pace and energy. \u201cMama\u201d has a European folk song feel to its melody and vocals, a demented feel that included blasts of flame on stage that included a stuntman running across stage with his hoodie on fire. It ended with an opera singer on the remote stage singing the final verses.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTeenagers\u201d doesn\u2019t seem to fully fit the narrative of the album, but it\u2019s a terrific rock and roll number. It was followed by \u201cFamous Last Words,\u201d a roaring anthemic number.<\/p>\n<p>Then the reprise of \u201cThe End.\u201d arrived with flames flickering across the stage like footlights, then spreading into the area of the band, with what had looked like amps and other gear now on fire. Pierrot pulled a dagger from his white blouse, it flashed, blood spattered, and \u201cThe Black Parade\u201d reached its end.<\/p>\n<p>That\u2019s a lot, right? If the show ended there after 14 songs and an hour and 15 minutes, you might not have complained, but for the ticket price you\u2019d paid. But after a break during which cellist Clarise Jensen played a solo piece, My Chem returned to the remote stage for another 11 songs from across their catalog over the next hour.<\/p>\n<p>Highlights of the hits and rarities set included the live debut of \u201cWar Beneath the Rain,\u201d an unreleased song from the unreleased album \u201cThe Paper Kingdom,\u201d which was scrapped when the band split in 2013. Fan favorites included \u201cI\u2019m Not OK (I Promise)\u201d and \u201cThank You For the Venom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Way introduced \u201cVampires Will Never Kill You,\u201d one of the band\u2019s earliest songs, as his all-time favorite My Chem song. The second set and the show ended with \u201cHelena,\u201d a farewell song to the Ways\u2019 grandmother, Helen. \u201cSo long and goodnight,\u201d he sang as the crowd once more sang along. \u201cSo long, not goodnight.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Originally Published: July 27, 2025 at 9:28 AM PDT<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a night full of crazy moments \u2013 and emotional, funny and tragic ones, too \u2013 My Chemical&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":97778,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,5497,2961,224,5337,14539,1072],"class_list":{"0":"post-97777","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-concerts","11":"tag-la","12":"tag-los-angeles","13":"tag-losangeles","14":"tag-music-concerts","15":"tag-things-to-do"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114927490403831589","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97777","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97777"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97777\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97778"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97777"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97777"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97777"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}