CONCERT REVIEW: My Chemical Romance Take Albany By Storm

My Chemical Romance kicked off the 8th show of the North American leg of their reunion tour in Albany, New York at the MVP Arena on August 30th.

The show started with Waterparks as the opener. Awsten Knight‘s energy was infectious as he interacted with the eager crowd effortlessly. His confidence as a frontman was plain to see, and of course, the music played was amazing as well. Knight mentioned several times throughout Waterparks‘ set that it was their first time playing an arena show and they were so excited to be touring with My Chemical Romance. Waterparks played several fan favorites including Turbulent and You’d Be Paranoid Too (If Everyone Was Out To Get You). At the end of their set as a special surprise, Waterparks played a brand new song called Real Super Dark which left the crowd buzzing.

After their set and a short intermission, it was time for the main event. If you’ve been to an MCR show, you know they start their set by playing static noises. This time was no different, and the longer the static went on, the more anticipation grew. Finally, the band themselves emerged.

MCR opened with their new song Foundations of Decay and immediately launched into I’m Not Okay. The band surprised fans by also performing You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us in Prison for the first time on the North American leg of the tour. Other deep cuts such as This is How I Disappear, Our Lady of Sorrows, and House of Wolves were played as well. But of course, MCR made sure to play fan favorites such as Welcome to the Black Parade, Famous Last Words, and Helena.

During the show, frontman Gerard Way was engaging and humorous with the crowd. A couple of memorable moments were him talking about how smooth his legs were due to the amount of lotion he had on and howling like a wolf before starting House of Wolves. The rest of the band seemed to be having a good time as well; Frank Iero, Ray Toro, and Mikey Way were all smiles as they moved around the stage and sang backup vocals. Frank and Ray’s microphones were particularly loud which was a nice treat since they’re normally pretty quiet.

For their encore, MCR played Vampires Will Never Hurt You and Sleep, which was a nice, almost gentle song to close out an amazing concert with

While the concert itself was fantastic, I’d be remiss to not talk about the issues that the GA line was having. Security would not honor the queue line that fans had set up when camping out days prior. This led to confusion and people cutting by the time doors opened. Despite the issues, Waterparks and My Chemical Romance killed it and made for a great night in New York’s capital.

You can catch My Chemical Romance on tour now. Let us know which show you’ll be going to!