I never really gave MCR a chance, since the bands' looks were so, I don't know, emo-ish? So apart from Welcome To The Black Parade and Na Na Na, I hadn't heard any of their material before. Those were decent songs, but I never really took a look at the rest of the material.
Months ago I saw some kind of a contest at a site of the local radio station. I signed in, but never gave a deeper thought for it. Then two weeks ago, I checked my mail box, and there they were, tickets to the seats, as I had won the contest. So random!
So, as I got tickets to the seats, I didn't feel like lining up for hours to see a band I hardly had listened to. I arrived around the time when I saw the last two songs from the supporting band. Luckily so, 'cause they sucked major ass. Never-heard-before Finnish band called Iconcrash. The sound reminded me of Green Day's side project, The Network. But a lot worse! Some über-crazy space shit. Thank God they finished quickly after my arrival.
Last year I had seats at a Billy Talent show, and that totally sucked. This time was the same thing. Of course I didn't mind, since I got the tickets for free, but I would never ever buy a ticket to the seats. It's so lame!
So sitting on the side of the venue might have had an effect on my mood, but even if I try to ignore that factor, I still think the show last night wasn't part of the top ones I've attended.
MCR started effectively with the new lead single Na Na Na, which started up the crowd quite well. But the bands' performance was so lame at the beginning, don't know if the fact that it was the last show of the tour got something to do with it. Sometimes Gerard Way, the singer, looked absolutely ridiculous standing still, only nodding his head. It also took maybe 4-6 songs before the band actually talked to the crowd. Until that point it was only song after song. And as much as I recognized the songs, they seemed to be played the way they were on albums, no crowd singing or extended bridges or anything.
But maybe halfway through, the band started to actually perform. The guys were moving more actively, and they let the crowd to sing along and talked to them between songs. So for the first half, I'd give C-, but the second half would be B+.
Surprisingly for me, much like Good Charlotte's gig last year, they played all their hit singles before the encore. So for a guy like me, who basically knew only the hit singles, the encore was quite awkward since I didn't really recognize the songs. But the song just before the encore was a slow one, so it fitted well for "fake-finishing" the show.
I had listened to the band only for the last two days, so only the good ones were stuck in my head. I was very positively surprised that most of the songs they played were the ones I liked, so I recognized more songs that I would've expected. So I'd say it was a perfect setlist for me.
One major bummer. Like every bigger show in Finland, filming is strictly prohibited. This wouldn't be an issue for me if I was on the field, but since I was on the seats, the security guys were patrolling for the recording cameras. But as I'm quite experienced, I knew how to hold my camera without getting caught, so I managed to get many videos. But when it was time for one of my favorite songs, Famous Last Words, I was busted only 10 seconds in. The security guy told me to shut my camera off, and said if I get caught again he would throw me out. And so he stayed only few feet away from me for the rest of the song to assure I was acting nice. So I missed majority of that song.
But all in all, a decent gig. Very positively surprised, since I wasn't really a fan. But definitely would go see them again if they were in town. But needless to say, not on the seats this time.
Pics and vids coming soon, althought the quality isn't nearly as good as my recordings from my previous gigs.
Keep checking for my YouTube account for videos as they upload.
Few pics
Setlist
1. Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
2. Thank You For The Venom
3. Planetary (GO!)
4. Hang 'Em High
5. Sing
6. Vampire Money
7. Mama
8. The Only Hope For Me Is You
9. House Of Wolves
10. Summertime
11. I'm Not Okay (I Promise)
12. Famous Last Words
13. Destroya
14. Welcome To The Black Parade
15. Teenagers
16. Helena
17. Cancer
--Encore--
18. Vampires Will Never Hurt You
19. Bulletproof Heart
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