Imagine seeing My Chemical Romance performing their iconic album The Black Parade live on opening night and being shocked when politics and death are a major theme.
Now imagine being so angry you brand their tour ‘demonic’ and ‘woke’ and try to sell your ticket, which you seemed to have purchased totally unaware that MCR is incredibly politically charged.
According to The Mirror US, this is a reality for some very unprepared Facebook ‘fans’.
After opening night in Seattle, gig-goers reportedly complained about a ‘twisted’ section of the show in which singer Gerard Way conducted a mock election, then executed the ‘candidates’ and sarcastically thanked fans for ‘participating in democracy’.
To any long-term fan of the legendary emo pop-punk band, this kind of stunt (taking aim at the illusion of choice and rigged elections) will not have been a surprise, but it seems not everyone at the show was a fan – or at least had no clue what they were walking into.
The Black Parade Tour appears to be the victim of an increasing trend of people going to gigs simply to say they’ve been, without actually checking what they’re signing up for.
Take radio DJ and podcast host Roman Kemp, for example. He recently came under fire for declaring he was shocked Beyonce sang so much Cowboy Carter on the Cowboy Carter tour.
Roman, 32, thought he was going to get more of her throwback hits rather than a run through of her Grammy-winning album, despite everything about the tour telling him otherwise.
Complaining he didn’t know many songs on his podcast with Tom Grennan, the DJ revealed more than he intended about himself and the way he interacts with gigs.
In an age where we’re all more online than ever, it’s baffling anyone is able to walk into a concert blind. More than that, in many cases, it’s just willful ignorance.
However, this is by no means Roman’s problem. It’s a wider issue plaguing big gigs where the desperation to not miss out has turned live music into a status symbol.
And unfortunately, the more in-demand you are – Beyonce, Oasis, Black Sabbath and yes, even emo legends My Chemical Romance – the more likely you are to attract this rush.
The fame factor
Celebrity and influencer invites regularly prove controversial, with reactions falling either under ‘look how much fun they’re having, what a legend’ or ‘how dare they not enjoy this more’.
Selena Gomez came under fire for keeping an eye out for the Knicks in May as she watched a game on her phone, while in a private suite at the Cowboy Carter tour.
Let’s not underestimate the sheer status symbol that comes with being able to afford the hefty price tag. Just like a skiing holiday or buying a cocktail in London, concerts are a luxury item.
If you’ve spent hundreds on a ticket, merch, outfit, and travel, then of course, you’re going to boast about it on social media.
Let’s be honest, VIP tickets are unlikely to have taken away any seats from the average gig-goer. This pet peeve is most likely driven by jealousy, rearing its ugly head as we watch influencers — who probably got there for free —enjoying an incredible view.
While we whinge about influencers, we’re all trying to be one as we watch the show through our phone screens, recording the entire thing.
Even filming for songs that, for whatever reason, don’t bring in viewers, which get posted less and less as the tour continues. Often, you’ll find influencer-minded gig-goers chatting during these.
As Sabrina Carpenter once said: ‘There’s so many more moments than the Juno positions, but those are the ones you post every night and comment on.’
Concerts have become an easy path to viral fame without having to even put your face out there — the only barrier is the cost to get there.
FOMO is real
Fear of missing out is a huge factor, especially when all your idols are posting about going to the show.
This FOMO starts before the first gig, when you’re told tickets are going to be in demand, so people who wouldn’t normally have bothered to see an artist pile onto Ticketmaster in hopes of securing a seat.
UK Music reported that in 2023, 19.2million Brits went to a live music event, a 33% increase on the previous year.
Taylor Swift’s mammoth Eras Tour pushed this feeling into the stratosphere as if you weren’t dressing up as your favourite album with friendship bracelets at the ready, you were on the outside of a crucial moment in culture.
Sporadically dropped, re-recorded (and brand new) albums meant that if you missed a single show, you really could miss out on breaking news.
More than the music, this was a shared bonding experience between lovers of Taylor’s songs, with fans at home playing SwiftAlert as they guessed her costumes for each night.
This was a cultural moment, broadcast out via livestreams every night and, with such a large fanbase, it’s no surprise those feelings of missing out have leaked into other tours.
Sabrina Carpenter brought a little of this to her Short ‘n’ Sweet Tour, with the playful Juno poses going viral every single night. With the vast online coverage of her show, it’s hard to miss her pin-up aesthetic and innuendo-filled songs
However, as her fame grew, those who had not been aware of this began clutching their pearls. Her shows left people — particularly parents — shocked, having bought the ticket blindly and only thought of not missing out.
The same goes for My Chemical Romance, maybe you loved Welcome to the Black Parade as a teenager, so frantically thought ‘well I can’t miss out on this’ but never actively listened to the band.
This anniversary tour has been particularly highly sought after, with the band performing the entire rock opera front to back. Not your usual gig for a casual fan.
Where do we go from here?
As with all things that are becoming overrun with cynical capitalism – the very thing My Chemical Romance rallies against – real music lovers will inevitably push back.
The nature of music is that it connects with us on a human level, whether it’s Lewis Capaldi’s triumphant Glastonbury return or getting into a mosh pit at Black Sabbath.
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You don’t need to be the biggest fan in the world to deserve tickets but a quick Google search before you buy them wouldn’t be a waste of time.
Maybe then you won’t be ridiculed for calling the band that famously formed after queer icon Gerard Way witnessed the 9/11 crash and has an entire rock opera about the downfall of capitalism, ‘too woke’.
Even if you walk in blind, make sure it’s with an open mind, like the girl was caught Shazam’ing Bitter Sweet Symphony while Richard Ashcroft opened for Oasis.
She was blasted for not knowing ‘the national anthem’ and ‘taking tickets off deserving fans’, despite the fact that this wasn’t even the act she was there to see.
However, instead of talking through the entire song or tuning out, she looked it up – you never know, that might be her favourite song now.
There’s no issue with buying tickets for an artist you only sort of like but don’t complain when they then do exactly what they’ve been telling you they’re going to do.
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