{"id":49144,"date":"2025-09-12T14:19:25","date_gmt":"2025-09-12T18:19:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/?p=49144"},"modified":"2025-09-13T14:18:52","modified_gmt":"2025-09-13T18:18:52","slug":"my-chemical-romance-fenway-park-9-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/2025\/09\/12\/my-chemical-romance-fenway-park-9-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Review: My Chemical Romance @ Fenway Park 9\/7"},"content":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: Chapman Baehler<\/span><\/p>\n

Review By Kate Kotlyar<\/span><\/p>\n

As thousands of people, whose clothes absorbed all sunlight and whose skin reflected it, shuffled into Fenway Park on Sunday night, I knew I was where I belonged.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Just like the rest of New England, I waited patiently for three years for My Chemical Romance\u2019s (MCR) return to Boston for the sold-out penultimate show on their \u201cLong Live The Black Parade\u201d United States tour, which was also their first stadium tour. The band returned with the core four, lead singer Gerard Way, bassist Mikey Way, guitarist Ray Toro and guitarist Frank Iero; and touring members keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac and drummer Jarrod Alexander.<\/span><\/p>\n

British punk band Idles opened the show with their percussion-heavy rhythms, spoken-word style and politically liberal messaging. Despite not having heard any of Idles\u2019 songs prior to this show and consequentially not knowing what to expect, they managed to get me to headbang along. Their music was a great warm-up for the audience to get jumping and to scream until the blood rushed to their heads\u2014 as it did to lead singer Joe Talbot\u2019s, causing his face to be the same hue as his pink hair.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fans traded friendship bracelets and pins in the stands and handed out small colored paper squares as a part of various fan projects while a pre-show setlist of Keposha\u2014a fictional language created by Gerard and typographer Nate Piekos for this tour\u2014 folk songs and various instrumental tunes played.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It felt like time slowed down in those final minutes before the show, but in an instant, all of Fenway Park went dark and all the mouths of the tens of thousands of fans dropped open as they screamed and begged to be welcomed to The Black Parade. The stage backdrop illuminated with a rainy scene of Draag, a fictional country created for the tour, as a snare drummer from the Draag National Auxiliary Band marched out on stage and introduced the audience to the \u201cGrand Immortal Dictator,\u201d the ruler of Draag, for the first time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After singer Sylvia, played by Charlotte Kelso, finished a beautiful operatic rendition of the Draag National Anthem, MCR officially started their set with \u201cThe End.\u201d The song\u2019s final lyrics, \u201cSave Me,\u201d echoed off the walls of Fenway. The nation\u2019s oldest baseball park had just welcomed the newest inductees of The Black Parade.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Steadily making their way through \u201cThe Black Parade\u201d\u2014\u00a0 arguably the band\u2019s most iconic and recognizable album\u2014 they reached \u201cThis Is How I Disappear.\u201d This song has been one of my favorites since I was an angsty 13-year-old trying to desperately disappear into my iPod and headphones that blasted almost exclusively MCR. The song\u2019s slow drum-heavy build up followed by Gerard\u2019s first lyric and first command of the song, \u201cGo!\u201d, led the stadium to erupt with cheers and the floor to shake under the excitement of thousands of Doc Martens boots and Converse shoes jumping. \u201cThis Is How I Disappear\u201d still maintains its position as one of my favorite songs on the album after this show because the energy exchange between the band and the audience was undeniable, and desperately made me want to hear an encore.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Shortly after, we hear the note known around the world, the \u201cG\u201d note of \u201cWelcome to the Black Parade.\u201d The start of the song was drowned out by the sound of shrieks coming from the audience. Among those shriekers was, of course, myself. During the five-minute song, Gerard led the audience through a united motion and signaled us to throw our fists in the air to the song\u2019s beat. Seeing thousands of people around the stadium act in unison as we all appreciated the performance in front of us almost brought me to tears.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Directly after the audience voted in favor of a public \u201cexecution\u201d of criminals against Draag, a beautiful organ introduction played into \u201cI Don\u2019t Love You.\u201d This was when the first fan project of the night appeared as fans placed small red pieces of paper over their phone flashlights. The dark stands of Fenway lit up in a concoction of white and red lights. Feeding into the energy, Gerard summoned the crowd and said, \u201cI love to hear you sing,\u201d before the song\u2019s second chorus. The role of the lead singer then fell onto the audience\u2019s shoulders and they held the song\u2019s melody with care.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I would like to give a special shout out to another one of my all-time MCR favorites, \u201cMama.\u201d Not only did the pyro shooting from the stage physically warm the space, but violinist Kayleigh Goldsworthy added sweet overtones to the song with her skillful playing. If we get a live album for this tour, there is no doubt that this version of \u201cMama\u201d will grace my playlist.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We arrive at the last song of the first set, \u201cFamous Last Words.\u201d Shouting this chorus along with thousands of other like-minded emos was cathartic, to say the least. Despite the stage seemingly falling apart and bursting into flames to signify the end of the set and the band\u2019s failed rebellion against Draag, the band still made the crowd feel involved in and enthralled by the performance. Towards the end, Gerard handed over the singing to the crowd during the bridge creating a beautifully melancholy and tender moment between the thousands of people in the seats and few musicians on stage, leading to a perfect ending to \u201cThe Black Parade.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ultimately, what I witnessed during this first set and full live rendition of \u201cThe Black Parade\u201d was nothing short of a well-crafted theatrical performance. The lore and storytelling fully captivated me, from the Dictator\u2019s reaction to songs, the various character interactions and even Gerard\u2019s mock-death on stage at the end of the set. I went into the intermission feeling thoroughly fulfilled at the showmanship and creativity I had just witnessed from MCR.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Transitioning from the first to second sets, cellist Clarice Jensen plays a solo rendition of \u201cFrom A to B.\u201d The band emerges again, but this time no longer in their Black Parade garb and on a smaller, circular platform just behind the GA pit on the field\u2014 their \u201cB\u201d stage. Starting off their B set strong with \u201cVampire Money,\u201d a tour debut, the band set the energetic tone that this set would hold.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

After some intense therapeutic screaming with \u201cI\u2019m Not Okay (I Promise),\u201d the band played \u201cSummertime.\u201d Gerard called out a command to the audience at the start of the song with, \u201cLights!\u201d Then, as quick as he said the word, the entire stadium lit up with phone flashlights as everyone heeded his word. He thanked the crowd after the song\u2019s end by saying, \u201cThank you, Boston. That was beautiful. Thank you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite being surrounded by strangers, Sunday night felt like an intimate performance between a handful of fans and their favorite band. As Gerard said before performing an unreleased record, \u201cThe War Beneath The Rain,\u201d dedicated to the band\u2019s first booking agent in Boston, \u201cI like the vibe tonight. This is like an evening with friends.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The second set also included fan favorites like \u201cPlanetary (GO!),\u201d \u201cNa Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na),\u201d and \u201cHelena.\u201d However, Sunday was a special night, according to Gerard, because it was \u201cdouble vampire\u201d night\u2014 a perfect coincidence since the moon looked particularly eerie due to the heavy clouds. The band then burst into \u201cVampires Will Never Hurt You\u201d for the final song of the night. The set ended on the same high-energy that it began with during our first vampire song of the evening.<\/span><\/p>\n

The threat of a storm and heavy rain clouds may have hung over the audience that night, but the fans still managed to bring the stars out at Fenway Park and illuminate the cloudy night sky and bring a cathartic and magical end to an unforgettable night.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photo Credit: Chapman Baehler Review By Kate Kotlyar As thousands of people, whose clothes absorbed all sunlight and whose skin reflected it, shuffled into Fenway Park on Sunday night, I knew I was where I belonged.\u00a0 Just like the rest of New England, I waited patiently for three years for My Chemical Romance\u2019s (MCR) return […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22960,"featured_media":49145,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1525,1523,15],"tags":[2225,2493,26,327,49,156,2492,1585,2489,31,2490,2491,25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49144"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/22960"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49144"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":49178,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49144\/revisions\/49178"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/49145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/wtbu\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}