Come one, come all to the East Coast’s least tragic affair.
The usual sights and sounds of Citi Field were rather different last night, as My Chemical Romance brought their ironic rock opera, Long Live The Black Parade, to Queens. There was a fictional authoritarian government, a national anthem, a puppet called The Gentleman, multiple stabbings, and enough fake (hopefully) blood to make even the most dedicated horror fan raise an eyebrow. But we’ll get to all of that shortly.
The New Jersey natives have been a part of my life in one way or another for longer than most of what is currently mine. They were the favorite band of many of my friends in middle school, though my own love for them came in waves after their 2019 reunion, especially in recent years as my friends would talk about them more and more. Maybe it’s the nostalgia that got me, or maybe it’s simply because they’re that good, but over the years, they’ve somehow gone from a few warm memories to my favorite band of all time.
I’d say that in a sense, it’s funny to have your middle school emo phase peak in your twenties, but really, it’s always been there in its own way. I guess that (also) in a sense, I’m still waiting to grow out of the phase per sey, though a part of me hopes and knows that I never really will. Seasons change, especially here in New York, but as I sat in a diner with my friends in an oversized t-shirt after the concert last night, I was reminded for the millionth time that night that people never really do.
Despite my adoration of the band and the posters that adorn the walls in my otherwise very pink apartment, I had actually never seen them live. Their earlier shows tended to take place before I was, well, born, and I hadn’t made it to Swarm Tour or the earlier days of Long Live The Black Parade, so needless to say, last night’s show was a long awaited experience that was well worth the wait.
The show is split into two parts, the beginning being a rock opera that takes place in the fictional authoritarian country of Draag, and no detail is left out. Since the tour began last summer, the production has gradually revealed more of its world and storyline, with each leg adding its own little pieces to a much larger narrative.
The basic story of the original North American shows remains intact, but the Latin American dates were later revealed to have actually been a prequel to the 2025 shows, adding an entirely new layer to the timeline. By the time the tour returned to North America in 2026, the story had caught up with the version fans first saw last summer, and the production has since largely returned to its original format.
In previous cities, the stadium screens were adorned with ‘rules’ for the residents of Draag that implicate what time in the timeline the current audience is in. They’re often a bit ridiculous, like the prohibition of ‘spice bags’ when the band played in England, and my friend Carolyn’s memory of how, during the show at MetLife Stadium last summer, patrons were not allowed to ‘throw hair’ at each other.
Last night the rules were in fact in Keposhka, Draag’s fictional language, which was created specifically for the tour by letterer Nate Piekos. This was a fact that I only realized after I had tried to input a picture of it into google translate and the app became what I can only describe as extremely confused.
As the rules flash, ticket numbers also appear across other screens, instructing the “prisoners” they correspond to report to various gates throughout the stadium. All of this comes to the forefront when the audience is instructed to rise for the Draag national anthem as the band takes the stage.
The plot of the first act follows the Black Parade as the unwilling band of Draag’s authoritarian regime, forced to perform for the Grand Immortal Dictator.
What comes next is essentially the iconic album fully transformed into a theatrical rock opera, with characters interrupting songs, frontman Gerard Way receiving orders from the regime, the audience participating in a mock execution vote (though this aspect in particular did not appear at last night’s show), and the entire thing eventually descending into nuclear warfare, flames and a very dramatic betrayal.
It’s an ambitious way to revisit an album that already had such a fully realized concept, and what makes it work is how committed the band is to the (many) bits throughout the night.
The album is played in it’s entirety, following a similar order to the original Black Parade tours around 2008, both beginning and ending with “The End.” And after a brief intermission, the B-stage set strips away almost all of the theatricality of Draag and gives you My Chemical Romance as a rock band again. “It’s beautiful here,” Way said, looking around Citi Field. “A really beautiful stadium.”
The setlist, expertly crafted by rhythm guitarist Frank Iero, was truly one of a kind. After playing through the entire Black Parade album, the band launched into a series of songs from all three of their remaining albums, including deeper cuts like “Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough for the Two of Us.”
The band’s enthusiasm for the songs was impossible to miss, accentuating the energy of material that could so easily have felt overly familiar after nearly two decades. That was especially evident in guitarist Ray Toro’s playing, whose guitar work brought the same urgency and intensity to the songs that it had when they were first released. Iero, bassist Mikey Way, and drummer Jarrod Alexander brought that same energy throughout, making it clear that these weren’t songs the band was simply dusting off for the sake of nostalgia.
The set eventually came to a close with the iconic “Demolition Lovers,” a particularly fitting choice for a night that had already taken fans through so much of the band’s history.
“This is the last song…” Way said. “On Bullets.”
“Maybe someone who was here when they were 16 is here now with their wife or girlfriend, just having a good time, man,” Way said, evidently feeling just as nostalgic as the audience. “I remember it. It’s just joy, man.”
Knicks fever was in full effect on the B-stage as well, with Mikey changing out of his Black Parade uniform and right into a shirt representing our iconic team. Classics like “I’m Not Okay” and “Helena” made the setlist, of course, with Iero shouting “Knicks in five!” during his iconic “trust me” verse in the former.
He wasn’t the only one with ties to the NYC sports scene, though. “I used to play baseball, but I was the worst player on the team,” Way said. “The only kid that was worse than me was the one that stayed home. Like, I was the ****ing worst. I love Gary Carter, so I wanted to be a catcher. They put me everywhere. I sucked so ****ing bad, I couldn’t even catch a ball. I wasn’t a catcher. I like the mask though. I like masks, I like masks. Alright, what the **** is next?”
Throughout the band’s time on the B-Stage, Way often launched into whatever it was that was on his mind. “I love cold fruit,” they said, followed by a well deserved round of applause for cold fruit. “I used to go to bodegas in New York when I was in art school.”
The Danger Days portion of the B-stage setlist included my all-time favorite, “Summertime,” the tour debut of “Bulletproof Heart,” and “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na).” As if the night hadn’t already covered enough ground, the band eventually worked its way through “Bury Me in Black,” “Helena,” and of course, the string-and-piano rendition of “Demolition Lovers” to close out the night.
I was expecting the night to be pretty rooted in nostalgia, and though it certainly was, I was surprised by how much of it felt like making new memories at the same time. One of the things I’ve found most meaningful in my love of the band is that contrast between the old and the new, and the way they so evidently span generations, something that was impossible to miss looking around the venue last night.
People of all ages sang together, knowing every word. There were adults who had grown up with the band, young adults who probably never thought they’d get the chance to see My Chemical Romance live, and kids who have only ever known a world where the band is back together. Somehow, all of them were there for the same songs.
All in all, that combination of nostalgia, new memories, and the knowledge that there will always be more to make has become one of the most grounding things in my life.
Years in the making, the show couldn’t have been more perfect. If you stay, I would even wait all night had never been more true.
My Chemical Romance Citi Field setlist
The Black Parade
- “Mr. Blue Sky” — Electric Light Orchestra cover
- “Over Fields (The National Anthem of Draag)”
- “The Black Parade”
- “The End.”
- “Dead!”
- “This Is How I Disappear”
- “The Sharpest Lives”
- “Welcome to the Black Parade”
- “I Don’t Love You”
- “House of Wolves”
- “Cancer”
- “Mama”
- “Sleep”
- “Teenagers”
- “Disenchanted”
- “Famous Last Words”
- “The End.” — 2026 reprise
- “Blood”
B-stage
- “Metastable” — Clarice Jensen
- “Romance”
- “Honey, This Mirror Isn’t Big Enough for the Two of Us”
- “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)”
- “Give ’Em Hell, Kid”
- “Summertime”
- “Heaven Help Us”
- “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)”
- “Bulletproof Heart” — tour debut
- “Bury Me in Black”
- “Helena”
- “Demolition Lovers” — strings and piano rendition