Barclays Center, Brooklyn, NY – 11 Sep 2022
“The world needs something better, let’s give them one more reason now”
When My Chemical Romance announced its return in 2019, the Myspace generation, now adults, were ready to lace up their Doc Martens and apply their red and black eyeliner turned war paint. It was finally happening, after nearly 7 years, the MCRmy was ready to return to the battlegrounds and stages. And they did… once in 2019… at a show that sold out in minutes. Then the world took a break, the COVID pandemic postponed any further tour dates, delayed another year. That year became two years of anticipation, before the band was finally able to return to the Northeast with a killer set at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
Nostalgia was on full display entering the arena as the line filled with stories of first times hearing My Chemical Romance, what the music has meant for the attendees and of course, the obligatory and pompous gatekeeper lines like “I’ve been a fan since Frank was in Pencey Prep.” The band spoke to those of us who, in a two year span, witnessed the horrors of Columbine and September 11, they connected with us over our insecurities, our fears and the cynicism that we needed to develop to remain sane as the world our parents left us continued to crack and decay. That longing for the abnormal normalcy of a short time ago filled the nearly 20,000 seat arena.
The Lemon Twigs took to the stage promptly at 7:30 and immediately wowed the incoming crowd with their sunshiney power-pop melodies. I’d never heard the band before, but their style blended Queen, The Cars and just a tinge of the vocal theatrics of The Darkness and I enjoyed the hell of it.
Up next was the most personally rewarding for me, as Jersey’s post-hardcore legends Thursday took to the stage. It was a far cry from the Wayne Firehouse where I’d first seen them, and I couldn’t have been happier to see them take their rightful place in sold-out arenas.
The energy was through the roof, as Geoff Rickley and his crew turned the huge arena into an epic New Brunswick basement show. Rockledge introduced the band as being “like the Nets, we came from Jersey to the Barclays to fuck shit up.” They did just that, in the best way possible.
The band’s emotions and ecstasy carried through the show as the band blazed through “Cross Out The Eyes,” “This Song Brought To You By A Falling Bomb” and “Autobiography of a Nation” The band closed out the evening with “War All The Time” With a crowd full of sweat and solidarity and the existential fulfillment that can only be found in the energy of a live performance. Making my way into the photo pit after that set, I saw the after-effects of that catharsis. It was beautiful, it was sincere and, most importantly, it is ours.
Speaking of moments that hit deep inside, My Chemical Romance stormed the stage building crescendos and anticipation with the newly released “Foundations of Decay.” As the song built to its explosive peaks, the backdrop fell, revealing a replica blown-out cityscape. That dystopian scene became a part of the show, as Gerard Way, without any need for explanation, remembered the 9/11 anniversary with “Skylines and Turnstiles.”
When the band tore in to the first of the many singles they would unleash tonight, “I’m Not Okay (I Promise),” it was impossible to feel the floor beneath the singalong coming out of every mouth, bouncing off every wall and levitating all of us lucky enough to be there. Other than a few quick cracks about a clumsy microphone stand, the stage banter was minimalist. The crowd wasn’t there for the chatter and neither was the band. We were all there to bask in the powerful glam-goth-emo mashup and relive that alienation and loneliness that brought us all together. And we did that as we shouted along to the singles and deeper cuts alike; “Boy Division,” “Welcome to the Black Parade,” “You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison” and “Helena.” Not a single song started without hearing someone within earshot screaming how this one is their favorite song. Me? I uttered the sentiment when the encore opened with “Vampires Will Never Hurt Us.” A collective stun washed quickly through Barclays as the band closed out with the rarely performed “Desert Song.”
Some of us may have known how much they needed this show, I didn’t. It was a cathartic experience. If MCR originally connected with my feeling of being lost in the wake of Columbine, 9/11, fake wars and economic collapse to help me feel a part of something, they reconnected and reignited those feelings despite the pestilence, treason and commonality of school shooting we’ve lived through since they left the scene. A triumphant return among the trials and tribulations of the 2020s. If the world needed something better, My Chemical Romance gave it to us one more time.
Bad Dad (occasionally called Ed) has been on the periphery of the punk and punk-adjacent scene for over twenty years. While many contributors to this site have musical experience and talent, Ed’s musical claim to fame comes from his time in arguably the most punk rock Blockbuster Video district in NJ where he worked alongside members of Blanks 77, Best Hit TV and Brian Fallon. He is more than just an awful father to his 2 daughters, he is also a dreadful husband, a subpar writer, a terrible dresser and has a severe deficiency in all things talent… but hey, at least he’s self-aware, amirite?
Check out the pathetic attempts at photography on his insta at https://www.instagram.com/bad_dad_photography/
