14 March 2023 – Brisbane Entertainment Centre – words by Lucas Bell – pictures by Bec Harbour
After three years of cancellations and rescheduling, New Jersey emo icons, My Chemical Romance finally were able to bring The Black Parade back to Australia, for their long-awaited reunion tour. And we were lucky enough to be able to be in the building to catch the show! Accompanying MCR on this tour, was a massive support in fellow 2000s heavyweights, Jimmy Eat World. And I normally don’t spoil my reviews this early, but both bands put on what I would say would be the best greatest hits shows I’ve ever seen.
Jimmy Eat World were out first, and immediately kicking a ravenous crowd into high gear with some bangers. Opening on ‘Futures’, they quickly pivoted into some of my favourite songs, including ‘Pain and Sweetness’. After a stopping for quick check on a crowd member who had passed out near the barrier (this is something we love, that the Jimmy guys noticed this and to the time to make sure the person was receiving care from medics), they blistered on with songs like ‘All the Way’, ‘23’, and ‘Work’.
At one point in the set, lead singer Jim Adkins made a comment that even after doing this stuff for 20+ years, the fact people can take what they wrote, and own it as a consumer and make it their own, is something they appreciate more than anything. It is rare you hear that level of sentiment from a band so widely regarded. Hearing this said, truly felt like a touching moment.
The set continued on with again, classic after classing. The final four songs were strong, with 2022’s ‘Something Loud’ absolutely blasting out the speakers, before hitting my three favourite songs. The crowd was loud for ‘A Praise Chorus’. The crowd was louder for ‘Bleed American’. The crowd went BALLISTIC for ‘The Middle’. Even though MCR were still to come, the crowd was going insane for Jimmy Eat World, and there was definitely a section of the crowd that did not want them to leave.
After a short interval, the lights went out 5 minutes before they were supposed to, before a low, drowning sound ran through the speakers. This legitimately ran for about 10 minutes, as the slow build to each member of My Chemical Romance took to the stage. As all members took their places to individual applause, lead singer Gerard Way arrived in his best Agent Scully X-Files cosplay, and they opened right into their newest song, ‘The Foundations of Decay’. Once that song finished, it had already been about 10 minutes into the set time. But the crowd was already on fire. And it was about to get hotter.
When I said that both bands put on their own best of sets, I truly meant it. MCR went into overdrive, kicking in with ‘I’m Not Okay’, ‘Our Lady of Sorrows’, and ‘Give ‘Em Hell, Kid’. The crowd was so freaking loud! You could tell most of the people here had been waiting 3 years for this moment. And no one let it pass them by. I also knew Gerard had the ability to do guttural screaming. He did some amazing work last year on a song called ‘Rōnin’ by Ibaraki, which is the black metal inspired side project by Trivium’s Matt Heafy. But holy shit this dude can go live.
The hits kept coming, with ‘The Ghost of You’ probably getting one of the biggest receptions of the night, which kind of both surprised me, and didn’t, because that song rules. They also even broke out my all-time favourite song, ‘You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison’. Dead-set, this is their best song and you can’t change my mind. And Gerard even mentioned, that’s the first time they’d played it on the entire reunion tour. This felt incredibly catered towards me specifically, and I love it.
The sing along for ‘Teenagers’ borderline sent me deaf. We did get some stuff off Danger Days, which is an album I don’t particularly care for. But getting ‘DESTROYA’, ‘Na Na Na’, and ‘Planetary’ within 4 songs of each other was nice, as I’d rather hate one entire part of a show than have them be placed throughout the set. Two songs I didn’t expect though, were ‘Skylines and Turnstiles’, and ‘The World is Ugly’. And I don’t think a lot of people in the crowd expected that level of deep diving into the catalogue. The main set was closed out with Famous Last Words, before a long break before the encore.
Until this point of the show, there really hadn’t been a lot of talking. But Gerard got on the microphone and talked about how this song they were about to play, wasn’t even on their setlist. But he ran into someone either that day, or at some point in Brisbane, and was asked if they would play ‘Cemetery Gates’. He and the touring keyboard player Jamie Muhoberac played the first verse and chorus, before going into ‘Helena’. Again, another moment of the night where I almost went deaf. But man, this song live is incredible. What I didn’t expect though, was one more song after it, and to close out the main set, MCR did ‘Sleep’. Of all the songs to close on, this is one I did NOT expect. But it was also a nice way to close out an absolutely brilliant time, that anyone in attendance won’t soon forget.
