From covering Bon Jovi to receiving a key to their hometown, the band’s performance felt highly personal, even in an enormous venue.
My Chemical Romance
Chapman Baehler
My Chemical Romance has been on the road for a few weeks on the band’s Long Live the Black Parade tour, performing its fiercely beloved 2006 album in its entirety since kicking off the stadium run in Seattle on July 11; they’ve also been reunited for a few years, hitting the road in 2022 after years of inactivity and weaving a few festivals into the tour itinerary. All of which is to say, the band has been around lately — yet Saturday night was different.
On Aug. 9, My Chemical Romance made its headlining debut at MetLife Stadium East Rutherford, N.J., a few towns over from their childhood homes in Belleville, with a show that was at once triumphant and extremely Jersey-coded. Although the Long Live the Black Parade tour has involved a theatrical slant — in which the band members don costumes as their alter egos The Black Parade, and incorporate none-too-subtle political commentary as “His Grand Immortal Dictator’s National Band,” leading fake executions and performing while people run across the stage while lit on fire — My Chemical Romance’s catalog naturally bristles with the intensity of a North Jersey basement show.
No matter how large the band’s venues get or how elaborate the framing of the performances may be, that energy is always front and center; it’s made MCR one of the most vital rock bands in the world right now, and is the reason why thousands of ticket buyers are always ready to welcome them back with open arms.
Sure, My Chemical Romance played the hits on Saturday night, but the MetLife show was more than one stop on the road. Here are the best New Jersey moments from My Chemical Romance’s homecoming, at the state’s biggest venue:
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The (First) Opening Set
Death Cab for Cutie served as direct support for MCR on Saturday night, and while “Soul Meets Body” and “Transatlanticism” ripped within the stadium, the group that kicked off the evening, Thursday, had an even more impactful presence. The New Brunswick-born, Geoff Rickly-led emo greats previously opened for My Chemical Romance at the latter’s reunion show at Newark’s Prudential Center in 2022, and once again traveled up the turnpike to support their pals, presenting “Signals Over the Air” and “Understanding in a Car Crash” to a crowd that showed up early on Saturday night to catch them. -
The Hometown Outfits
Any My Chemical Romance show is going to feature a visual feast of fan getups, but the MetLife crowd was on another level — face paint, eyeliner, stylized hair and every shade of black known to man. Seeing the New Jersey-based community that the band has created over multiple decades turn out in full force for one night made the experience of filing into the stadium and walking around the concourse just as special as watching the show begin. -
The Key to the City
Midway through the show, Michael Melham, the mayor of Belleville, strode on stage to present a very special honor to the hometown heroes. “Belleville’s musicians have entertained millions worldwide,” he said, name-checking Frankie Valli and Connie Francis. “Yet even in our storied history in Belleville … never once in the history of Belleville have we handed out a key to the city. And that changes right now!” Although My Chemical Romance was still in character as The Black Parade during the presentation, the moment felt hard-earned and emotional — a salute to a one-of-a-kind group of Jersey boys, being honored in a way that no one else has before them. -
The Deep Cut Sing-Alongs
My Chemical Romance has been performing the entirety of The Black Parade in every city on this tour, along with a mix of non-Black Parade hits and album tracks that several fans have been longing to hear for years in concert. For the crowd, MCR playing songs such as “Vampires Will Never Hurt You,” “It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Deathwish” and “Skylines and Turnstiles” in a North Jersey football stadium felt like a fever dream — but it must have been even more mind-boggling for the band to perform those songs in that venue, and hear countless voices sing every word back at them. -
The “Livin’ on a Prayer” Finale
Gerard Way introduced the final song of the performance as “the New Jersey state anthem” — and after Saturday night, that description might be inarguable. Bon Jovi’s motivational anthem was perfectly refracted through the prism of My Chemical Romance’s lung-busting velocity, with its cover both faithful as well as frenetic. The generations-spanning moment was the perfect way to end an evening that felt like a singular achievement for My Chemical Romance; the band may never cover “Livin’ on a Prayer” again after Saturday night, and that’s what made the performance unforgettable.