My Chemical Freak: My Chemical Romance All The Time

By Brandi Dabbs

Well I got to experience Drive By, Billy Talent and My Chemical Romance tonight at Sloss Furnace.  It was exactly what I expected it to be (the venue). 

Drive By was actually pretty cool.  I was a bit perturbed by the fact that there were two acts before MCR, but I quickly realized I was simply being a bit pissy because I was having to wait. haha.  They reminded me of a more foul mouthed Relient K, which is not all together a bad thing.  I am a fan of Relient K and now Drive By.  I expect to see really good things from them. 

Billy Talent, on the other hand, I wasn’t fond of at all.  I have to be honest when I say I wished Drive By’s set had been longer than Billy Talent’s.  We left our place in the crowd to go away from them HA!

After Billy Talent finally got off the stage it took them about 20 minutes to break down the set; then turn around and put up one.  All the while the crowd intermittenly chanted “MCR MCR MCR,” here and there during the 20 minutes.  Finally we saw some FRO!  And everyone knew immediately it was GO TIME! WOOT!

Frank had on a gray long-sleeve t-shrit that I had seen in pics before.  Gerard had the signature burned-denim jacket with denim vest underneath.  Mikey was rocking the “Mikey Fucking Way” shirt again, and well Bob was just lumber jack Bob again!  I have to say I love the flannel look on him

If memory serves me right, the first song of the evening was “DEAD”.  This was followed by some old familiar favorites such as (in no particular order): 
Disappear
Dead
Cemetery
Give em Hell
Way Home
Black Parade
I Don’t Love You
House of Wolves
Never Told You
Heaven
Mama
Prison
Headfirst
Kill All
Not OK
A new song that i dont know the name of…
Teenagers
Famous
Cancer
Desert
Desolation Row was on the set list but wasnt played.
Helena

They didn’t do any covers tonight.  I was a bit disappointed, but I will get over it.   I am pretty sure Gerard was near dead tonight.  I mean he had awesome energy as usual, but announced after the first song that he was sick and felt bad.  He also said that the crowd was making him feel better, but I think he was just being nice.  About half way through the set, he started to get hoarse.  He was struggling by the end in some spots and it was very obvious that he needed to be RESTING.  I mean, don’t get me wrong, it was a great show and he did an awesome job.  I know no one who can take a stage and go at it completely sick like he did tonight.  Let’s hope that the days rest tomorrow he spends in bed with some soup and hella good meds!  Again I can say the first half you never would have known he was sick, but the second half, well I would have liked to have said… Okay just take a chill pill and drink something warm and soothe that raw throat of yours.  Gerard being the awesome trooper he is, pressed on and upward and finished the set screaming “so long and goodnight!”   They left in a blaze of glory!

I would like to also say that James Dewees doesn’t get the recognition that he deserves.  I was never a fan of him in Reggie and The Full Effect, but after tonight I have a whole new respect for that man.  He has to be one of the best keyboard/piano players I’ve heard.  When the guys took a brief intermission, he kept the crowd entertained with howling melodies and spooky sounds (i guess simply because it was sloss and sloss is said to be haunted).  I very much enjoyed his little numbers through out the breaks.

Mikey FUCKING Way,  Well folks that boy rocked harder than I have ever seen in my entire life!  He gave Frank a run for his money in the energy department!  He was by far the most energetic of all of them besides Gerard.  It was a close race, but Mikey won out!

Ray and Frank really got going one time and were sort of doing this cris-crossed head banging number behind Gerard.  It was really cool to look at haha!

During Teenagers a dude (can’t remember his name) came out and played harmonica.  It was awesome soundeing with the song to say the very least.  He did an awesome job!

Gerard talked a lot.  He said things about Sloss Furnace being haunted etc.  Then he added due to that fact, Mikey would have his Ouija board out later on after the concert trying to haunt himself! I got really tickled at the thought of Mikey “haunting” himself!

He also said that they would be back to Birmingham on their NEXT TOUR so everyone can CHILL with the talk of them never touring again.  I think with THREE new songs that they have been playing at different concerts and the fact that he said they would be back to Birmingham should ease your minds a tad.  He also said they were going on a long break, and truthfully after tonight they completely need it.  Tired isn’t the word for what those guys must be!

OH and last but not least, during CANCER, Gerard sang all the words but these… Never Marry.  I thought it was kind of sweet.  He let the audience sing that. 

Well that is it for now.  I am sitting in the hotel room at 1:21am, writing this and I’m nearly dead!  So I will go for now.  Please excuse any and all typos.  I wanted to get this down before I forgot most of it.  I will fix them tomorrow.

Edited to add:
I was asked my impression of the crowd. 

To be right honest there were only a hand full of people there that I would liked to have choked!  For the most part, people were nice.  There were some doozies in the crowd that were just plain mean.  If you are reading this and you were bald and tall… well sir you should have been at the very back

I met some people there that I will be in contact again.  Then I also met some that I wouldn’t piss on if they were on fire! haha

Also I have come to realize something…  It’s not about how close you get to the guys; it’s about how you enjoy their music, no matter how close or far away you are!  So the next time you are at a My Chemical Romance concert, take it in for all it’s worth and be considerate of those around you.  Good rule of thumb, “Don’t hate, appreciate” as my husband likes to say!

Review By Brandi Dabbs
Editor in Chief of MyChemicalFreak
Please give credit where credit is due if you copy this review.