My Chemical Romance concluded their World Contamination Tour of North
America in Las Vegas before a sold-out crowd at the House of Blues. The
killjoy inspired fashion of their fans hinted at the evolution of the
band’s music since becoming emo icons in 2002. The first signs were
embedded on their 2006 rock opera
The Black Parade where T. Rex
inspired guitar riffs on songs like ‘Teenagers’ added a fuzzy glam to
the darker gothic tones of the band’s earliest work. With 2010’s
Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys,
the band took a risky artistic leap forward with a focused rock and
roll sound that embraces everything from punk to arena rock. Delivering
on the promise of the new album, My Chemical Romance tore into ‘Na Na Na
(Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)’ with a vengeance and played an
unrelenting set that was leaner and meaner than anybody might expect.
The audience began jumping and singing with the first line and Gerard
Way had several thousand voices joining him the entire night. The
adoring audience erupted with each teenage anthem from ‘Welcome To the
Black Parade’ to ‘Helena’ while older songs like ‘Vampires Will Never
Hurt You’ were received with almost as much enthusiasm. The songs from
the latest album best fit the band’s new aesthetic and the stadium
worthy ‘Sing’ sounded huge in the confines of the small club. Perhaps no
song reflects the band’s streamlined rock and roll sound as well as
‘Summertime’, one of the strongest tracks on
Danger Days. The
song offers up a taste of what classic rock and roll will sound like on
the radio in 20 years and needed no theatrics to get its message across.
The decade of growth in the studio and on stage has produced a tight
rock and roll outfit ready to inject modern music with some fun and
energy. The Las Vegas concert was everything a fan of the band or just a
fan of rock and roll could hope for. Opening act The Architects played
straight up punk that sounded so good, members of My Chemical Romance
started joining them on stage to jam. It looked like it might be a
perfect night of music. Almost. In between the two bands, Circa Survive
played one of the worst sets I’ve ever seen live. Thankfully, My
Chemical Romance took all of three seconds to erase the pain and start
kicking ass.
CREDIT:
essentialjunk.net
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