My Chemical Romance @ FestivalHall, Melbourne (31/01/2012)

Fri 3rd Feb, 2012 in Gig Reviews

It’s kind of a shame that My Chemical Romance didn’t make it out for their second-to-top billing on Soundwave a couple of years back, because now Australia will probably never get to see the full blown Danger Days show. Having seen the New Jersey lads headline overseas, it’s easy to say their Australian performances are far from what they’re capable of (yes, there are obvious budget restraints at this end). But that actually worked in their favour to a degree; as behind all the glitz there’s actually a really entertaining rock and roll band at heart.

It may have been plain coincidence, but the not-so-loved-by-Maddah headliners chose fellow victims of Soundwave lunacy, Closure In Moscow, to open for them at Festival Hall. With MCR fans already pulsing in anticipation on the floor, Closure in Moscow didn’t have to do a great deal to have people sweating early. Warming the crowd up never looked so easy. Front man Chris de Cinque came out with all flamboyant guns blazing and immediately took to the crowd as though they were his own.

de Cinque’s moves battled the band’s time signatures for wackiness, whilst the crowd were clearly struggling to find a danceable rhythm. But while the music was all disjointed, at times to the point of jarring, the band were really quite entertaining to watch. On top of that, their quirks made them come across as great showmen, too; although their concluding chants of “She’s just like a penguin in bondage”, to which the crowd responded “oh yeah”, were pretty strange.

In what was to be (apparently) their final Danger Days show, MCR wasted little time getting to the point. Their brief introduction was an intriguing choice: a young fan casually appearing on stage to announce the “most dangerous band in rock and roll” and receiving the biggest roar an underage punter’s ever going to get, before the latest album’s intro played and the band belted straight out and into Na Na Na.

From the moment singer Gerard Way sang the lyric “shut up and let me see you jazz hands”, which resulted in several thousand rock fans paying tribute to musical theatre, the front man had the crowd in the palm of his very own (very jazzy) hand. Way basically gained immediate authority over the room and was able to initiate yells, sing alongs, waves, claps and jumps with the bat of an eye. Caught between the manic antics of guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, whose energy didn’t relent, the stage was in no short supply of visual entertainment for the show, which extended to a generous two hour set.

The set list was a decent mix of MCR’s four albums, although it did seem for a lot of the show that the band’s finest work, The Black Parade, was being shunned. From that album, Mama was the only addition for quite a while, and provided a theatrical highlight early on. When it kicked in, the crowd did as well, and the Festy Hall mosh heaved. This was a trend that continued over most of the songs played; Give ‘Em Hell Kid, DESTROYA and Teenagers all receiving huge reactions.

Over the course of the set, MCR showed few signs of slowing down, and appeared to be really enjoying the heavy load of newer material they had to offer. The set’s toilet break came about half way with the lull of Summertime, but there were really few other moments where the band and crowd alike weren’t feeling the sweaty fun of it all. And what it all came down to was the very fact that MCR are a fun band; whether or not you want to take them seriously, they have a slew of fast, good-time tracks that get people moving. This was no more the case than on what looked like the set closer, Welcome to the Black Parade, which lifted the roof – a fact that made the real closer Cancer seem all the more interesting as lighters were lifted and the mood cut down for tragic ballad conclusion. It was the less predictable finish, and it was appreciated.

A four song encore ensued, with the crowd screaming their way through 2004’s I’m Not Okay (I Promise) and Way flouncing about on The Kids From Yesterday. They ended on a heavier note, getting the adrenaline pumping again on Famous Last Words and leaving those on the floor to exit appropriately sweaty into the night. And what was the band going to do after all was said and done? According to Way: “We’re gonna watch some wrestling and eat some chicken”; as casual as that.

My Chemical Romance are a band that have copped a fair bit of flack over the years, but their fans are some of the most passionate around (or maybe younger people are just louder). This was a show of endurance and passion, and showed a band worthy of as much rock performance cred as there is to offer.