Pop Break Live: My Chemical Romance 2022 Reunion Tour with Midtown and Homeless Choir at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey — September 21, 2022
When I was a young boy my sister introduced me to emo music. It was the early ‘00s and I was obsessed with sports cards and Razor scooters. My musical taste consisted of whatever I heard on the radio or watched on TRL. It wasn’t until my sister introduced me to bands like Taking Back Sunday, The Used, The Starting Line, and Dashboard Confessional that I started forming my musical identity.
My Chemical Romance was and will always be the sort of kings of that era. When they broke up in 2013, I thought my chances of finally seeing them live were over. Lead singer Gerard Way put out a solo record shortly after and then focused his attention on writing comics for DC Comics and adapting The Umbrella Academy for Netflix.
Everything changed in October 2019 when the band announced a reunion show in Los Angeles and a subsequent North American tour in January 2020. A few friends and I grabbed tickets to the additional date added in NJ after all the initial dates sold out in less than six hours. I was finally going to see the band I had been waiting years to see. Then a pandemic came and stopped the world for two years.
After being postponed a year and then another, My Chemical Romance were finally set to hit the stage for their second night at the Prudential Center. The night before, The Homeless Gospel Choir opened followed by special guest opener, Thursday with Gerard Way joining them on stage for a song. Our night also featured The Homeless Gospel Choir and another band on a reunion tour, Midtown. The New Brunswick band originally disbanded in 2005, but were resurrected to be the supporting act for MCR’s tour.
When My Chem finally took the stage, you could feel the crowd’s two years worth of built up excitement just escape as they went into “The Foundations of Decay,” the band’s first new single released since 2014. The band sounded incredible. You would never have known they had taken any sort of break from each other. Gerard’s voice in particular was so strong it seemed like he had been resting it all this time just to do this tour about almost a decade since they disbanded.
They played through a dense 19-song set that spanned the bands entire catalog featuring hits like “I’m Not Okay (I Promise),” “Helena,” and “Teenagers.” But when they got to “Welcome to the Black Parade,” everything changed. The entire crowd was screaming the lyrics to the song that I thought we were going to tear the roof off of Prudential Center. We were all united in one joyous moment, celebrating that we were all together listening to one of the greatest songs of all time, as members of The Black Parade.
My Chemical Romance 9/22/22 via setlist.fm
The Foundations of Decay
Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Fucking Deathwish
House of Wolves
Summertime
Helena
Our Lady of Sorrows
Planetary (GO!)
Welcome to the Black Parade
Teenagers
S/C/A/R/E/C/R/O/W
Bury Me in Black
Skylines and Turnstiles
Mama
Headfirst for Halos
Famous Last Words
I’m Not Okay (I Promise)
Encore:
Vampires Will Never Hurt You
My Way
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