MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE 8/23/2022 AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA

MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE  AT BRIDGESTONE ARENA

written by RL/photos by Alma Reed

Celebrating a long-awaited reunion, New Jersey’s most influential rock band of the 2000s and forefathers of emo, My Chemical Romance celebrated their third night on the road in Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena. The Reunion Tour kicked off in Oklahoma on August 20th and will be wrapping up in October with several performances at the “When We Were Young” festival.

I arrived at the venue 30 minutes before My Chemical Romance was set to take the stage. Downtown Nashville was swarming with people wearing magazine-like emo apparel. I have never seen so many pleated skirts and skinny jeans in one place.  One of the merch booths was parked outside the venue with a line wrapped around the street corner. Even before entering the venue I could hear “MCR! MCR!” being chanted by the excited crowd.

I met two friends who had spent the night prior to the show camped outside the venue. With shaky hands, they showed me a calendar marked with 988 days waiting for this night! 

MCR was the soundtrack of an entire generation. With 20 years behind them, their music continues to be the soundtrack to so many lives. With parents alongside their children, it’s clear that this concert was also a family affair. It’s nice to see MCR’s music being passed on to the new generation, and the younger generation is embracing it and making it their own. 

The stage was dark with a red curtain in the background. Two giant screens flanked the stage, with what sounded like white noise playing on the PA and the crowd chanting “MCR! MCR!” When the curtain came down the entire arena erupted.

The band launched right away playing their latest single “Foundations of Decay.” The lead singer shocked the crowd wearing what will now be an iconic green cheerleader outfit with white skirt. 

Not surprisingly, the crowd knew their latest hit word-for-word and from that moment they sang along the rest of the night. 

Vocalist Gerard Way showed his gratitude to the crowd many times during the show. At some point it seemed as if his emotions would get the better of him. The band took time to hug each other in between songs with the same disbelief that the fans experienced. After 10 long years they were back doing what they loved to do surrounded by an arena of 16,000 people. 

With a set of 21 songs this show was mean to take the crowd in a hell of roller coaster ride.

I don’t think I need to say this because fans have been holding tickets for this show for a long time now, but if you are on the fence about seeing this show, let this article be your sign! You will not regret this night. 

SET LIST: