I waited 20 years to see My Chemical Romance live – they literally set the stage on fire

The Long Live The Black Parade 20th Anniversary Tour is a slow march into insanity, and that’s a huge compliment.

It’s hard to imagine a time before streaming was king but in the 00s, my weekends were spent rummaging through my parents’ CDs for new tunes.

Among the Elbow and Steely Dan, the Black Parade was an outsider in the collection, bought on a whim and unloved until that rainy afternoon.

From that day on, My Chemical Romance became one of my favourite bands. Now, almost 20 years later, that generational album has been transformed into a theatrical experience that teenage me could have never even begun to imagine.

From a murderous clown and a publicly voted execution to Gerard Way crying while holding a creepy puppet, any other band would crumble under the theatrics.

Instead, MCR – Gerard, Mikey Way, Frank Iero, and Ray Toro – couldn’t have looked more at home than in their faux military uniforms commanding that stage.

The concept of the show is simple: MCR performs as their alter-ego, the Black Parade, resurrected from the original tour, who are attempting to appease the Grand Immortal Dictator of the fictional country Draag.

Fans are instructed to stand for the Draag national anthem before the show even begins, indoctrinating us from the start.

At one point, we’re confronted with voting for the execution of four people who lost a game, culpable as we eagerly raise cards reading ‘yay’ or ‘nay’.

All fun and games until the huge explosion goes off as we vote ‘yay’ in the rigged election, featuring deafening pyrotechnics that are just the beginning.

With this being an anniversary tour, for a band that hasn’t released a studio album since 2010, it would be easy to do a low-effort greatest hits round-up. But that’s not MCR’s style.

Mirroring the original 00s tour, this is a full theatrical rendition of the album from front to back, beginning with The End.

Those first notes – and that iconic G songs later – sent me and the entire crowd into a chorus of screams, immediately belting along to every word like it was 2006 all over again.

For this revamp, there are added intros, extended outros, and a whole Dagger section featuring a duet with Australian opera singer Charlotte Kelso.

While the record’s title track is usually described as the emo national anthem, laid out song by song, you’re reminded how incredible the entirety of The Black Parade is.

It’s a rare no-skip album with as much love and reverence for emotional moments like (a burp-free) Cancer as there are for high-energy numbers like Teenagers.

The concept of the show might go big, but the band doesn’t ever get lost in the Draag of it all. Front and centre, they are incredible musicians and utterly captivating.

Later in the set, things are ignited again, with giant flamethrowers heating up Wembley Stadium as a man ran across the stage literally on fire.

I don’t mean fireworks, of which there were plenty, I mean if it could be set on fire, it was – including that one guy. Mama was turned into a blazing spectacle, and the gig wasn’t even over yet.

By the end, the ominous clown daggers our beloved frontman in the heart before, somewhat controversially, pulling the trigger on his suicide bomber vest as the show closes to the hidden track Blood.

Initially, the inclusion attracted some criticism, particularly when it came to potential dates in Manchester; however, with the context of the show, it didn’t feel in poor taste or out of place.

As the cheers died down, the crowd just stared at the stage, wondering what on earth would happen next.

Turns out that was a very calming and civilised intermission from cellist Clarice Jensen. It had the energy of a theatre intermission, with fans heading to top up drinks, go to the loo, and generally mill about for a bit. Honestly, more concerts need a cello break.

After around 10 minutes, MCR returned, walking through the crowd to the smaller, tantalisingly close, circular B stage plonked in the centre of front standing.

I was preparing for an encore-length addition, maybe three of their biggest non-Black Parade tracks, and we all go home.

Instead, I got an entire second gig from the band, complete with deep cuts and heavy hitters as they played a further nine tracks.

Gerard walked out looking like Liam Gallagher in a parka with the hood up, while his brother, Mikey, opted for an Oasis football shirt to really bring home the resemblance.

Here, the band loosened up, dropped the Draag personas and really seemed to have fun with the crowd.

Fans were just as in it as the band, with phones few and far between for most of the show. In the age of social media, I’ve never seen so many screen-less arms in the air.

You really could believe it was 2010, with the Way brothers barely having aged a day. Being the inspiration for Twilight will do that to a person.

To my shock, they opened the set with Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough for the Two of Us – which has not been played live since 2010.

Tracks from their debut album don’t appear to be a given, as every night MCR are mixing up the second stage set.

From their handful of UK shows, only I’m Not Okay (I Promise), Na Na Na, and Helena seem to be a guarantee.

As a final closing three-song run for the first Wembley show, it was, to quote Liam Gallagher, ‘biblical’.

Both the teenage version of me and the 28-year-old music journalist were left utterly speechless and pleasantly surprised by how on form the band were.

I’ll admit, I had a slight fear this would be nostalgia-bait and half-arsed, but My Chemical Romance proved what I’ve always known, they’re still a force to be reckoned with.