May 6th, 2008 | mychemicalfreak | 5 Comments | Email My Chemical Freak!
By: Roosterlady
My husband, my sister and I got to the venue at around 11:30 a.m. or so. When we got there there was already a small line with the people in the front having arrived the day before at 30 in the afternoon. We took our place in line and made friends with the surrounding fans, all of whom were very nice.
I did some Skeleton Crew promoting by handing out fliers I downloaded. It felt good to be spreading the word. Me with my fliers I handed out.
We took turns walking into the venue area and since it was partially outdoors you could see the stage being set up, merch stands bing set up and all of the hustle and bustle. After a while they set up a security guard to not allow anyone in anymore. Not even to use the port-a-pots even though there was still a three hour wait until the doors were officially open.
Finally after two hotel runs to use the restroom and one food run to McDonald’s the doors were opened. They split the boys and girls into two lines and people quickly made there way through the not so tight security. We made our way to the front, second from the barrier between Ray and Gerard. The stage seemed incredibly small and I couldn’t have been more excited.
Drive By was first. I thought the frontman seemed very sincere in being happy to be there and said that they would be at their merch stand after the show and they wanted to meet everyone. The had a camera man filming video of their set and at one point the lead singer held up the camera and recorded the audience. I thought their set was good and we bought one of their CD’s for $5 which they all signed.
Next came Billy Talent. I have to say that I disagree with Kizzymie. I felt like their performance energized the audience from the first song. I think the lead singer was very charismatic and entertaining and quite a performer. The guitarist was wearing a shirt that said Mikey Fuckin Frey just like the Mikey Way one. I will definitely be looking into their music in the future.
Finally, after much anticipation it was time for My Chemical Romance. The crowd was already getting tight and it only increased throughout the set.
They came onstage and every went wild. Gerard did say that he was sick and I saw him shoot three….count ‘em THREE snot rockets throughout the show, so I assume he must have had a cold accompanied by a runny nose. I thought that despite his ailments his vocals were outstanding and his performance was not lacking. I felt like he didn’t talk as much between numbers as I have seen him do at other shows I’ve been to. They seemed to truck through the songs fairly quickly, in my opinion. The songs all sounded amazing and I was thrilled to hear the b-sides and Headfirst for Halos.
At one point during the piano solo, Frank brought an older woman onstage and she had his guitar around her neck. I had seem the woman earlier being escorted onstage by Matt Cortez. She watched the show from a chair on the side of the stage so I assume she must have been a relative of Frank’s maybe? Anyway, it was very sweet. I love Frank.
The dude that played the harmonica, I had seen earlier performing roadie duties. He sang along with the chorus during the Teenagers performance and his harmonica skills were great. It was pretty cool.
People were randomly throwing things onstage…stuffed animals, boas and the like, but one thing caught Gerard’s attention. Some one close to the front was holding up a scarf type thing that said something about France. He said something along the lines of, “Is that for me? I love France. They love my wife over there.” It was too sweet.
Before Desert Song, Gerard said that he was going to play a song from a little movie called Life On The Murder Scene. He said that the point of the movie was to encourage everyone to get out there and start a band. It was pretty cool. He did also mention that this was the last tour they would be doing for a couple years, but we pretty much already knew that. He also howled like a wolf a few times before they played House of Wolves.
We we literally 6-8 feet away from the band. I was amazing to be that close and to see the details of their expressions and the sweat dripping off of their faces. Ray was amazing as usual, and I agree that Mikey was a commanding presence throughout the show. Bob with his knee high socks and shorts never fails to make me smile.
I have to say that besides the show I saw in Ft. Lauderdale, this was the roughest crowd I had been in. People were definitely pushing forward aggressively, worse at times then others. People were bing pulled out of the front left and right losing shoes along the way. When the show was over there were two random shoes at my feet. The girl next to my sister passed out before the show even started and I saw another girl completely passed out being pulled out of the pit as well. If you were short, which luckily none of us were, you would have had a difficult time in the first 10 feet of audience. One such person having a difficult time actually threw up on my sister. It was so foul. And another girl- you are not going to believe this- she BIT my husband. He flipped out and tried to get security but they didn’t do anything. Piss poor. She said he was elbowing her. Dude, where we were everyone was getting elbowed. I was also fucking pinched in my back and it felt pretty intentional. It was kind of unbelievable at times.
MCR’s main security guy (Mehdi or something like that?) passed out water bottles probably three songs before the end of the show to a bunch of us in the front and it was much appreciated by that time.
For all of they hype I had heard about the band seeming tired on this tour, Ray drinking onstage (which he did not), and the shows lacking energy, I think all of that is rubbish. They were amazing.
As the crowd cleared I made my way the the merch stand and bought the Mikey Fuckin Way shirt: front / back ($20), a Ray Toro t-shirt that I had never seen before: front / back ($20) and a long sleeve jersey type shirt that had the tour dates on the back: front / back ($25). We chugged our $3.50 waters and headed back to the hotel to wash the saliva and puke away.
It was a great night and an amazing show. We’ll remember this one for a long time.
edit:
Gerard talking about Sloss being haunted and Mikey and the Ouija board.
video credit: afjhfksfhd
