tothetune | Review: My Chemical Romance at The O2

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Review: My Chemical Romance at The O2

2007, Seoul, South Korea: Live western rock is a niche genre in this part of East Asia, but that gives it a certain free-reign: a lack of expectation that means it’s often performed in its purist form. Crowds exhibit curiosity rather than expectation and without media pressure or excessive fandom, performances are often as uninfluenced by external factors as we can ever hope to see. My Chemical Romance clearly see this as an opportunity: their Olympic Auditorium performance is wrought and rough around the edges, pumped full of a level of adrenaline that has the stage show almost ludicrously frantic. The hits – and they were lesser hits back then – are conspicuous by their absence, and the band are determined to enjoy themselves in an unrestricted, unpredictable manner. The result is stark, raw and at times almost violently intense; the quality of the show becomes a national talking point.

2011, O2, Dublin: The version of My Chemical Romance that strolls onto the huge O2 stage is a much-changed and far more hyped animal. The commercial success of the two intervening albums has established a young, hormone-driven fan base and pushed the commercial aspects of the bands music to an unavoidably high level. These days, My Chemical Romance are very much the business machine: a brand as well as a band, and a highly profitable one at that. Having taken the concept album to its logical extreme in latest offering ‘Danger Days’ – a million seller that depicts the bands alter-egos as corruption fighting heroes of the not so distant future – today’s show is a the perfect marker for MCR’s commercial progress.

Like many bands who take a turn for the mainstream, the signs are not all that positive. Perhaps it’s where we’re sat, but ‘Danger Days’ tracks don’t come over well live. Of course, that goes all-but unnoticed among the assembled gathering of hero-worshipping teenagers, but most of the new efforts are fast and trashy, and tonight the lyrics are layered a touch too deeply in the sound to really come through. Sure, we’re getting every word from the wildly bouncing teens down the front – one particular blonde who features regularly on the big screen looks like she’s actually arrived in heaven – but the overall feel leaves us grabbing at the lyrics and tussling with all but the starkest of lines.

While most bands offer up a fan-friendly mix of their past material on such a tour, MCR have directed things perhaps a touch too much towards the newer efforts. While tracks like ‘DESTROYA’ and ‘Planetary (Go)’ are solid rock songs, seven of the opening ten tracks are taken from ‘Danger Days’ and all of them suffer from the same less-than-precise sound problems.

It takes the older, slower numbers for the set to reach any kind of crescendo. Gerard – who these days is very much the face of the band as a live prospect – brings his emo-strutting and crowd-pumping to the fore during an emphatic performance of ‘I’m Not Okay’, the first let-loose effort that comes even close to that Seoul performance all those years ago. ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ and the even darker ‘Helena’ are also on course, yet with more than half a set passed by at less than the band’s peak, it’s largely a case of too little, too late. Even the encore – which consists of album track ‘Cancer’ and debut single ‘Vampires Will Never Hurt You’ is somewhat wide of the mark, bypassing the obvious mammoth finale of ‘I Don’t Love You’ at a time when a big single was really needed.

We need to be fair, though: it’s not that tonight’s show is bad, it’s just we expected so much more. When an arena show is drawing fans from the entire breadth of the country, you hope for a stage show that consists of more than just a few ‘deep’ quotes (especially when the one on ‘taking your medicine’ sounds like a borderline drug reference) and a performance that comes over as a touch more than an album promo, even if that is the primary aim of this particular tour loop. MCR’s phenomenally passionate fan base absolutely lapped the whole thing up, of course, but to the casual observer – having once seen My Chemical Romance perform at their absolute, flamboyant peak – Gerard’s dominant role and the sedate vibe of today’s show (especially next to support act The Blackout) and leaves a slightly hollow feel. For all the hype, this particular stadium show is nothing more than average.

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Wait, don't they also have a lead guitarist? Maybe I imagined that.

Who, Ray? No, he doesn't exist. They just sometimes pretend he does.

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

which consists of album track ‘Cancer’ and debut single ‘Vampires Will Never Hurt You’ is somewhat wide of the mark, bypassing the obvious mammoth finale of ‘I Don’t Love You’ at a time when a big single was really needed.

LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL

i am SO AMUSED by the fact that this dude who apparently fell in love with their "stark, raw, violently intense" performance in south korea wanted "i don't love you" instead of "vampires."

and also, of course, by the suggestion that "i don't love you" was the obvious mammoth finale. i actually like that song, but still. LOL NO.

RIGHT? It's just so hysterical to me. I mean out of everything else I find funny (too much new material? I WANT MORE NEW MATERIAL DAMMIT. The Black Parade Tour was RAW? LOL) but THAT takes the cake. It's on par with ending on Cancer IMO.

I mean I feel for the reviewer, who obviously wanted something pretty specific out of the show and didn't get it but really now. REALLY.

It sounds like every other person who whines about not getting all their favorites.

this is just such a weird way to write a review. basically, this dude saw them once and it was, like, THE BEST SHOW EVER, and this review is just a list of all the ways the dublin concert wasn't as good in his humble opinion. i mean, i applaud the idea of getting a reviewer who's familiar with the band and has seen them before, but...SUCH A BIZARRE WAY TO REVIEW A SHOW.

also, i really don't understand his implication that mcr were less famous or commercially successful in 2007 than they are now. did he miss the black parade or something, or has he just got his dates completely fucked up?

Edited 2011-02-19 22:59 (UTC)

No I don't get it at all, a lot of his statements are just kind of weird and contradictory. I think it's obvious he got a really specific view of the band from 2007 (for whatever reason) and it stuck with him.

But as he says, the show wasn't bad it just didn't live up to the performance he saw. Which I guess is fair but then a lot of things he talks about just smack of not even understanding the new album or even hearing it (he talks about the "weird quotes" which are from the album/video)? Which to me, is just not the way to go into a show.

And yeah in 2007 MCR WERE HUGE. You could not escape them and the set was polished and impeccable and shiny, it was certainly not raw. And the Black Parade tour was also about promoting a new album, it was all about the new album. Just as this one is. So just...to me it's the case of someone not liking the new album or not hearing it and expecting The Black Parade again.

And yeah in 2007 MCR WERE HUGE. THIS! I agree with you on this. I kept wondering if the reviewer was remembering MCR from when they were touring on Revenge but the songs he mentions are wrong for that so idk.

huh. there are a lot of things i could say about this. but mostly, i just want to know: what halcyon days is this reviewer remembering when gerard didn't take a dominant role on stage? because, uh. no.

Yeah, I was going to say Gerard has always been chicken dancing in the center of the attention.

Apparently the one time he saw them in South Korea? IDK.

Also BTW apparently they were DETERMINED to have a good time on that tour. Don't let any of the band tell you they were unhappy!

I would be very interested to know who the review thinks used to take a dominant role if it wasn't Gerard.

It was me.

Seriously. He's very much the face of the band "these days"? As opposed to...which days, exactly?

It's funny - even in interviews and stuff now, I think Gerard seems to be talking LESS than he used to?

The stage show... is about the same as always. Except he's being less theatrical now, and therefore arguably LESS of the main show, since he's just kind of hanging out and rocking out with the guys?

The obnoxious digs at the fans are not helping this dude's review. Perhaps they're enjoying themselves because...they are? Not because they just lap up everything MCR gives? I mean. Sorry you didn't have fun but taste is so OBVIOUSLY subjective, there's no need to slag off on anyone else's great time.

Invent a time machine if you want to go back to that show FFS.

Invent a time machine if you want to go back to that show FFS.

IAWTMFC.

I will totally brb with column commentary. Sorry I am stuck STARING at Gerard's legs and Frank's looking away BEAMING smile, and the WAYS UP FRONT together. Um, maybe I don't even need to read it? Just stare some more. Yup.

uh-hu. I actually wanted to read the thing, then I scrolled through the pics and got hung up on Frank's gargantuan smile.

I sort of have to agree with this reviewer in terms of how MCR's sound gets muddied at live shows but honestly that's a sound system/mixing problem more than a problem with the band itself. Speaker systems etc tend to muddy the sound up a bit anyway even if the techs running things know absolutely every quirk and kink in the system. Plus, those big arenas like O2 don't always have the best aucoustics unless you're in specific spots.

Aside from that when I got to a MCR show I'm looking for their theatrics and stage movements not just the sound because they could play the tightest set in the world but if all of them just stood in one spot I'd be disappointed because the live experience is feeling them move.

It also DOES depend on where you are standing. Too off to the side, get too much of that side, off to the other, too much of that. Too close, too far, etc. So fair enough to complain about that for sure. I couldn't imagine being in a large arena and seeing them tbh.

But yeah, so much of it is just watching them, enjoying the crowd (if it's a good one) and being an experience. I think standing back and kind of just watching that with what seems like a great deal of dislike for the culture surrounding the band on stage would be a bad time indeed.

I really second this:

I think standing back and kind of just watching that with what seems like a great deal of dislike for the culture surrounding the band on stage would be a bad time indeed.

Arenas are notoriously terrible as far as sound goes. They aren't BUILT to sound good, they're built to be BIG and are generally for sports, not a concert. Bands do as well as they can with them, but complaining about the sound at an arena show is like complaining about manure at a rodeo.

Was I Don't Love You ever a huge fan favorite like Vampires or Helena? I know it was a single in Europe but I don't remember it being a really super bit hit but I could be wrong. Anyone know?

In terms of fan favorites, I don't think it's way up there but MCR fans are notoriously disagreeable. In terms of actual chart performance it (according to Wikipedia) reached 13 on the UK Singles chart. In the UK I could see it maybe being more expected but it's certainly not on par with WttBP or INO.

But it's definitely not something they've ever encored with and it's a pretty left field expectation IMO.

First, the Korea show this guy is talking about happened at the beginning of 2008, not in 2007. That's why it was raw, they'd already 'killed' TBP and shows changed a lot after that.

Now...I have no words for the part about the new show. Too many new songs? O_o They played the whole album for a year for TBP tour, dude! Vampires will never hurt You a single debut? LMAO! You wanted them to close with I Don't Love You. When did they EVER close with that? (thankfully never) O_o

Uh...

um, what?

Does he expect the lead singer of a band to NOT take a dominant role? What does that even mean?

Maybe when he says they should've ended on I Don't Love You, he was thinking of I'm Not Okay? That was a huge hit in the UK right?

Or maybe a robot monkey wrote this weird-arse review...

The new songs don't sound good live? Really? Because Planetary and Destroya sound great... and Only Hope and Party Poison are both a million times better live... and Kids made me practically cry with joy, and Na Na Na is the perfect opener, and, uh.

I mean, they're a lot different now live than when this guy first saw them, so if he was disappointed, well, I feel for him. And it's not like I know anything about sound and mixing. So. *shrug*

But a lot of the other stuff in here just makes no sense. o_O I Don't Love You? Really?

Yeah, I'm still O_o at this, all that it says makes no fucking sense to me. I don't know anything about sound and mixing either, but I think I can tell if a song I've heard the studio version of lots of times doesn't sound good live. And like you said, all of them sound either just as good (sometimes just different than in the album, which makes it more fun) or better (I agree especially with The Only Hope -I love the live version). The only song that -in my opinion- sometimes doesn't sound as good live is SING. It's gotten better lately, though. And how can you talk about 'too many new songs' when the band are promoting said new album?

I think the problem was what this guy was expecting...which I bet was pretty unreasonable 3 years later.

Sing seems hit or miss because the vocals require almost musical theater-ish attention, but. The guitars that you can hear live are actually one of the things that sold me on Sing. Like, they're just so much more noticeable, and every time I hear concert recordings of it now, I'm all *drool drool guitars*

Yeah, uh, he lost me at "they were lesser hits back then" in 2007. Really. LESSER HITS?! What band are your reviewing, man?

ANYWAY, ANYWAY, epic pictures. THEY LOOK SO GORGEOUS AND LIKE THEY'RE HAVING FUN. yaaay.

Yes, that made no sense either because if by hits we think of...singles that got popular it's not like many new ones have been added yet. So, most of the hits they're playing now were already hits in 2007! xD

I can see some of his points though, even if comparing two shows from two years apart (from a band notorious for changing up their presentation/sound/appearance/~~clothing~~) is a guaranteed way to disappoint yourself. Apples and oranges, dude.

Still, I've noticed that it takes MCR a while to hit their stride with new material -- the way they were performing TBP tracks at early 2007 shows was often a little shaky, a little "off", as if they hadn't quite figured out how to stage them, and maybe that's what he was picking up on. I could see how that, plus his expectations, plus the general obnoxiousness of MCR fans at a show (lol you know it's true!) could make for a lackluster experience.

Overall, not a horrible review, and better than most.

I seem to remember an interview a while back, about how the songs for TBP and DD were written in the studio and then the band went over them to figure out how to do them live, as opposed to Revenge, when many of the songs were written with playing live in mind. It's an interesting thing to contemplate.

That said, having seen them live a couple of weeks ago... they sounded pretty damn good to me. :\

the general obnoxiousness of MCR fans at a show

I will never understand how this band seems capable of bringing out both the best and the worst in people. DX

They sounded good to me, too! But then we were probably both on an adrenaline high at our shows. ;)

I have met some of the best people at shows -- it's one of the reasons I love to wait in line all day because I know I'll have a great time and make new friends -- but once inside, I have also had experiences that were totally Lord of the Flies. It is crazy.

Considering he got a considerable number of his facts just flat out wrong, complained about sound (in an ARENA) and didn't even seem sure of his own opinions (the songs maybe came off badly? But I guess the audience kind of liked them? But oh they're just obnoxious teenagers) I would say this is definitely not a review that is better than most. I would suggest reading some of the other reviews of the show...or any other review ever not even MCR. If this is what you think the standard is. Because this is bad, just bad.

I should probably clarify that I meant better than most of the professional reviews that make it here to LJ -- because those usually seem to be written by someone overdosing on cynicism who went to the show specifically to trash it. I didn't get that feeling from this review, even though he didn't give them five stars.

I agree with this part: the feeling from his attitude is less "overdosing on cynicism who went to the show specifically to trash it" and more, expected it to be the same feeling he had in 2007 (or 2008) and was disappointed when he didn't get it, and a little bitter at the other fans who WERE having the time of their life.

Hey there, btw! :) I was actually hoping you'd post over here since we've talked about how the live experience of the band has changed in your opinion over the years. And then THERE YOU WERE!

DISLIKE BUTTON PLEASE.

Am I reading this wrong or does the reviewer think that two albums have been released since 2007?

I hadn't paid attention to that! I probably though they referred to TBP and Dangers Days and I didn't really know that word but..."intervening" means something like "in between two points", right? If so yeah, it does sound as if two albums had been released since that then. O_o

Also, I really want that American flag hoodie Mikey is wearing. I wonder if it's just American-themed or if it's MCR related.

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