Emo rockersMy Chemical Romance have always had a flair for the dramatic, but Saturday night’s sold-out performance atGlobe Life Field in Arlington layered on the theatrics, for better and for worse.
Lead singer Gerard Way and bandmates Ray Toro, Mikey Way and Frank Iero were in town on the only Texas stop on the Long Live The Black Parade Tour, celebrating the band’s 2006 album “The Black Parade.” This tour is the first time MCR has played through the entire “Black Parade” album since 2007.
‘The Black Parade’ meets The Black Parade, with a twist
The original “Black Parade” album is a concept album about an unnamed man, The Patient, who is dying of cancer. He embarks upon his trip to the afterlife while reflecting on his life. In years past, the band performed the album live as The Black Parade, MCR’s alter ego, clad in black, military marching band uniforms. Here, Way and Co. still embrace the uniforms and the alter ego bit, but have added another wrinkle to the proceedings.
In a series of videos and skits interspersed throughout the show, it’s revealed that The Black Parade band is performing a concert in celebration of “The Great Immortal Dictator” in the fictional country of Draag, a very Russian-looking, dystopian dictatorship. The right field jumbotron stayed on a static shot of the dictator’s hands for the entire show, with him expressing his pleasure or displeasure at the performance…