My Chemical Romance Lay The Foundations of Decay At UBS Arena in NY
We’re Not Okay, But We Have My Chemical Romance Back!
Talk about long-awaited reunions and just flat-out important artists to an entire generation, look no further than My Chemical Romance. The guys are back in action, for how long we don’t know for sure but what we do know is they’re back right now in 2022 and they even released new music.
MCR released “The Foundations of Decay” a few months ago and of course, that sprung questions about a new album but the truth is like many times with the My Chem crew they’re not gonna tell us what’s next until they’re ready.
Saturday night the band played their first of, if my calculations are correct, 5 tri-state area shows. This one is brand spanking new and I can confirm “one of the best sounding arenas I’ve heard,” UBS Arena in Queens, NY. My Chemical Romance will also be hitting Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, The Barclay Center in Brooklyn next month as well as 2 home state shows at New Jersey’s Prudential Center.
The show kicked off around 7:30 pm and featured openers GHOSH and The Bouncing Souls.
My Chemical Romance hit the stage promptly at 9:20 pm, moments before Gerard Way, Ray Toro, Frank Iero, and Mikey Way took the stage, UBS was electric. You can literally feel the excitement, the crowd yelling chants of “MCR, MCR, MCR” the front row lined with fans who were there hours and some even a day before to be right on the rail witnessing what many thought they would never see again.
As the band made their way to the stage a thunderous intro played. Gerard Way wearing a green t-shirt, camo shorts like short shorts, and a clear mask covering a portion of his face as the band ripped into their newest single “The Foundations Of Decay,” revealing a skyscraper in the backdrop surrounded by rubble and the stage filled with smoke.
As MCR transitioned into “Na Na Na” their second song Way moved frantically across the stage and the audience was right behind them the whole way through. The band sounded phenomenal, certainly showing no signs of a hiatus as long as theirs.
Each song got better and with each song on the setlist, the crowd grew more and more energetic, years and years of pent-up frustration, and hopefulness, and now two years since the original announcement of their return fan’s excitement levels were at 1,000.
The setlist was essentially a greatest hits paying homage to the band’s best songs. It’s important to note a really cool aspect of these MCR shows is they’re switching up the setlist in some form nightly and Gerard Way is switching his outfit for each show which is fun.
The 19-song setlist features hits from records like The Black Parade, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, Danger Days, and even more rare records like Life In The Murder Scene and Conventional Weapons.
During songs like “Welcome To The Black Parade,” “I’m Not Okay (I Promise),” “Famous Last Words,” and “The Ghost of You,” the crowd participation was so loud sometimes Way just let the crowd lead the way. I mean during “Famous Last Words” I literally had goosebumps.
My Chemical Romance looked and sounded spectacular, the show was nothing over the top but a really fun and energetic rock show. The years of waiting, wishing, and wondering was worth every second and now all we have to do is hope this isn’t a one-and-done because we, like everyone in attendance, want more My Chemical Romance.
Click Here for the Full Gallery of the Evening!
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