Delusion-Elle

Also known as the day I (finally) went to a My Chemical Romance concert. Feel free to ignore this blog post.

Setlist:

I got to my concert buddy's place at around 7:20 and the concert started at 8PM so we hustled our way to the skytrain station. It took us maybe 15 minutes to get to Granville and then we got lost looking for the venue. Luckily my buddy brought her GPS with her. Note to self and anyone who is attending a gig at the Centre for Performing Arts: it is across from the Central library and there are many stairs inside the place. If you have balcony seats, then "many" means several flights of them.

We weren't aware of the tickets being on sale until months after all of the closer seats were sold so we got seats on the upper balcony. I didn't really think that that was horrible or anything, after all, I've moved on from MCR, for the most part. So as we were going up the stairs, I noticed a long line-up forming from the second floor up the stairs. With my keen eye (lol), we realized that it was the merch line-up. Holy Jesus. It was long. No pics for you since we joined that line as quickly as possible. And it went decently quickly, though we still missed the entire set for the first opening act (the Architects). I wasn't too bothered by that.

We caught the second opening act, Neon Trees, and they were alright. Nothing overly special about them, but apparently one of their songs was featured on Glee. And I actually had caught that episode. Obviously they aren't all that memorable... But major props to the drummer. She sang while she drummed. What a badass.

MCR came in during their intro ("Look Alive, Sunshine") and launched right into "Na Na Na". It was a great track to lead with -- definite energizer and the first song anyone heard off their latest album. The next song they played was from their sophomore album, called "Thank You For the Venom" which starts with a memorable, quick little riff. Not my favourite off Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge, but it isn't a track I'm thoroughly opposed to. Another high energy song with fast riffing and a driving rhythm. The entire setlist seemed to alternate Danger Days songs with older favourites. "Planetary (GO)!" was next. Meh, I'm not crazy about this song, but at least it was lively and I could remember one line about velocity making someone sweat. Heck yes. The next track was "Hang 'Em High", another song from their Revenge days. It made me realize that I really quite miss their old style.

The next two songs, "SING" and "Vampire Money" are from their new album and I'm not overly fond of either of them, though "SING" has a great message and it is probably their most well-known track (to the mainstream crowd) thanks to it being featured on an episode of Glee. I have to say that I'm glad that Glee didn't do an MCR song that I'm fond of. That'd ruin it for me, I think. And about "Vampire Money", the song is allegedly about how the band was asked to do a song for the Twilight movies but didn't want to just buy into that franchise to make megabucks. I knew that there was a reason why I liked this band. Anywho...

They went back to their Black Parade days with "Mama" which is a bit more downtempo, but it's a fun song (even if it is a bit depressing and cynical). They followed this with "The Only Hope For Me Is You" which was initially my favourite song off Danger Days. They revisited The Black Parade again with "House of Wolves" which is quite honestly one of my favourite MCR songs ever ever ever. So I think I was hopping up and down for a bit when I realized what they were playing. This song is red red red!

"Summertime" was next, which a lot of people around me seem to adore ("OMG I LOVE THIS SONG!"), though I don't see the beauty of it. Maybe I'm too old to believe in magical summers. They kicked it old school with "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)" next. Okay, this song, I know for sure that I hopped up and down for a bit at the beginning and smashed into the middle aged mother on my right. Oh, right, yeah. The crowd was a pretty varied bunch, though they were predominantly scene/emo/goth. I was surprised by how many middle-aged people there were, though some were probably just chauffeuring their children... The middle aged folks (dressed smartly with bright red dyed hair) around me weren't...

The next song was "Famous Last Words" which was just... yessssssss! I remember listening to that song when I was down years ago. Actually, I'm pretty sure that MCR is really what got me through those teenage years. Kamelot was there for me when I became stable. "DESTROYA" was next, and though I didn't know all of the words exactly, I had a good time dancing to this one. "Welcome to the Black Parade" followed "DESTROYA" and at this point, my voice was really almost entirely gone. I wasn't even singing along at this point, just shouting awkwardly. They rounded out their set with "Teenagers" (hella fun live) and "Helena". I think that I've waited like 4 years to hear "Helena" live and experience the little singalong that goes with it.

They came back for one encore song (I WAS VERY DISAPPOINT), "Bulletproof Heart", and then it was time to retrace our steps and go home. I really really really wished that they had played more songs, but in total, that's like 17 songs? And that's a good number. They've been touring for months now so I get that they're probably tired. And they played plenty of stuff that I enjoyed, anyway.

I think that that was the most energy I've expended in a while. And that was the most I've ever let go at a concert, I think. Not that I was full on headbanging, but I danced a lot and didn't give a damn what anyone thought.

Concerts are like drugs.