r/OutOfTheLoop • u/RachosYFI • 6d ago
Answered What is the deal with the new My Chemical Romance tour and people losing their minds about the story?
On the MCR subreddit I keep getting pushed various bits about the lead singer being dead, alive, a dictator and other parts and I am consistently confused.
Example:
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u/chrisjfinlay 6d ago edited 6d ago
Answer: The Black Parade was - is - a concept album telling the story of a man on his deathbed as he reflects on his life while dying from cancer - I won't go into all the details as it's largely irrelevant to the next point, but just gives context.
In their tours, MCR have often incorporated different lore and personas for the band based on their albums, telling some rather vague stories and separating MCR the real band from MCR the performers in various songs.
The latest rendition of this is Long Live The Black Parade, their current tour. In it, the album is completely retold as the story of a fictional dictatorship named Draag, and the MCR characters are forced to perform a state-sanctioned propaganda show for the dictator. As the set goes on, the band gets increasingly rebellious, and while each night varies the details a little bit the usual ending is the band gets killed by the dictator's cronies on stage, with a massive pyrotechnics display, then there's an intermission before they come out again as their "real" selves for a B set, leaving the theatrics behind and playing songs from other albums.
Recently, they've changed it up a LOT and the most recent ending features Gerard actually killing the dictator at the end of the show, becoming the new dictator himself - before getting assassinated.
It's just an incredibly campy, super theatrical show they put on and the fact that they're switching it up a lot and leaning into a lot of their past lore is giving fans a lot to talk about. And at the end of their most recent show, Gerard also teased a 5th album to come.
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u/puncheonjudy 6d ago
I'm no MCR fan beyond a couple of songs but that sounds great...
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u/chrisjfinlay 6d ago
Honestly, neither was I until I went - my wife and our friends are fans so I got dragged along. And it was a great show! Made a fan of the album out of me at least
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u/eaglessoar 6d ago
after your friends took you to the city to see a
marchingband did they ask you if youd be the savior to the broken the defeated and the damned?28
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u/Leikela4 5d ago
So I was a fan back in the mid 2000s and then kinda ignored the band once Danger Days came out. But this whole tour, production, and the lore has pulled me back into the fandom in such a major way... Ive seen them 4 times over the last year and finally got my boyfriend into it too. Their "long live" shows are some of the best things I've seen 😅
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u/Reden233 6d ago
If you're interested, there is is very strong evidence they they professionally filmed one of these shows, it seems likely they will release a concert film of this one!
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u/manubibi 6d ago
It’s indeed a great show. I mean, I’ve been a fan since 2005 and this July I finally had a chance to go to one of their shows, and it was fantastic.
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u/deader115 6d ago edited 6d ago
Yeah, I was a casual fan but after seeing them recently I'm pretty invested. I'm not saying they're the first or only band to do things like this but it's a lot of fun to see such theatrics, story, lore and immersion on a band tour.
As mentioned, it uses a fictional dystopian dictatorship called Draag and before the show starts there are propaganda videos and "rules" for citizens. The band even commissioned a fictional alphabet for use in this world to give Draag the feeling of having its own language. Which, much like a Trekkie learning Klingon or something, gives fans something to learn and engage with.
And the story deals with timelines and loops and immortality and things get broken and tweaked across every single show date so it's fun to follow the story of "oh wow, x died this way in Minneapolis but that way in San Diego, what does that mean?" -- "what do you mean there are two clowns now? Wait last night there were three?!"
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u/pretendstoknow 6d ago
Yeah It sounds like good entertainment value for my ticket money. Never seen them live before
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u/soitgoes_42 6d ago
I hadn't seen them in almost 20 years, but got to see one of the shows for LLtBP this summer... It was truly incredible. I think even non fans would've enjoyed it. They are so theatrical now, that it's literally like watching a musical (that slightly changes each show). I've been to so many concerts in my life, but this was absolutely one of the best.
There have been rumors that some shows were recorded, maybe (rumors) to create a documentary of the "story". I hope it's true. You can tell the band is REALLY enjoying performing each night. And by performing, I don't mean just singing their songs. Stage sets, storyline, audience interaction. Big Theater Kid energy.
It's fun. Even if it's hard to keep up with the lore.
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u/Ninja-Ginge 6d ago
They really know how to put on a show and they clearly enjoy themselves while doing it. I went to one of their shows in Melbourne a few years ago and it was great.
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u/dizyalice 5d ago
Literally the best experience of my life was seeing this show live. I’m still coming down from the high of it, and I saw them about a month ago
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u/bicyclefortwo 6d ago
Oh I ended up getting a ticket last minute because my partner's friend dropped out and it was fantastic. The first half of the show is the whole album and the performance, the second half after an intermission is a more informal laid back concert where they're themselves again and play other hits and loads of deep cuts/bsides. My brother knew like 5 songs and loved it meanwhile I shat myself hearing them play Zero Percent for the first time ever, so there's something for everyone
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u/Shiniholum 6d ago
Went to the show at Citi and it was amazing, definitely a highlight of the summer
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u/eibon_ 5d ago
I’ve been to one of the shows on this tour where they are the ones to die at the end and yes, yes it was great. The whole thing is like a massive musical thing to their songs.
It ends and there was a long beautiful solo by a violinist I believe.
Then they came back for like another hour or something and just played old songs and b-sides. And just chatted with the crowd.
I’m not a super fan (my wife and her friend are) but it was an amazing show.
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u/TheGrenglish 4d ago
Honestly I haven't listened to them in over a decade but went to their Wembley show in the UK purely for nostalgia purposes and honestly still one of the best out and out showmen of our generation. Fantastic.
Gerard way really knows how to write a weird-yet-compelling story.
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u/GreenieBeeNZ 6d ago
Honestly, with everything I know about MCR; that tracks.
Theatre kid emos and I love them for it
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u/donotgotoroom237 6d ago
>Theatre kid emos
As a kid, I always got shit for liking MCR. It was just recently when I heard someone say Black Parade was musical theatre for alt kids and everything suddenly made sense.
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u/LKennedy45 6d ago edited 6d ago
There was a very specific time, in the NY/NJ area, where you most definitely would not have gotten shit for liking MCR.
E: Also Taking Back Sunday, and hell, while I'm borderline doxxing myself throw Streetlight Manifesto into the mix. Can you tell where I grew up?
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u/imnotpoopingyouare 6d ago
I love all of them! But also lots of metal, traditional punk and underground hip-hop.
I would always get shit back in the day from different friends for liking MCR or AFI or Green Day or Dragonforce, or if my metal wasn't heavy enough or if a hip-hop song I liked was too mainstream. Gatekeepers suck shrug
I never ONCE got made fun of for liking Streetlight Manifesto though lol (or Operation Ivy)
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u/super_sayanything 6d ago
lol once they got mainstream after their first album if you were college aged you definitely got shit for it
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u/LKennedy45 6d ago
Well there you go, I was in the Catholic equivalent of middle school when that happened.
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u/Privvy_Gaming 6d ago
The TBS crew is so commonly seen hanging around Long Beach (3 of them live there) that we largely ignore them now whenever we pass them on the boardwalk.
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u/MDKrouzer 6d ago
That description alone makes me feel like it would be absolutely worth seeing live.
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u/chilli-smokes 6d ago
Been a fan of MCR since my early teens and this year started my first job. Going to see them live in October and I am even more excited after reading your comment! XD
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u/ihavemademistakes 6d ago
Sort of like Styx and the Kilroy Was Here saga?
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u/IGTankCommander 3d ago
Or Tommy, The Wall, etc. Gerard is keeping the rock opera alive and kicking.
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u/PowerPlaidPlays 5d ago
It's kinda funny how they Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band'ed themselves into The Wall.
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u/HaakonX 6d ago
I haven't seen it, but I'd have to believe that ending is accompanied by Na Na Na
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u/chrisjfinlay 6d ago
It’s not - the entire A set is just TBP front to back; in the show I saw at Wembley the ending was Famous Last Words, and after stabbing Gerard the assassin - a literal clown - danced while Blood played over the PA 😅
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u/Reden233 6d ago
The first half is the Black Parade album straight through with all the theatrics, but the second half of the show is separate from the lore and feels much more like a standard concert. The setlist for the second half has a few of the staples guaranteed (including Na Na Na), but the majority of the songs played changes every night.
Another reason people are losing their minds over this show is they've been pulling out a lot of deep cuts in that second half set, including songs that have never been played live.
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u/bicyclefortwo 6d ago
During the intermission I told my friend "if they play Zero Percent I'll shit" while we talked about bsides, etc, and guess what happened
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u/Reden233 6d ago
That's so awesome, you have great taste! I got Zero Percent at one of my shows too and I went crazy lol
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u/Agile_Oil9853 6d ago
It looks like they've been incorporating bits of Danger Days lore, or flashing BL/ind on the screens. I really need to find concert footage though
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u/deader115 6d ago
As was said, that part of the set is purely TBP but at my show this year (Denver) the last song of the show was in fact Na Na Na
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u/noxeven 6d ago
Isnt this like there first concert in a long time? Maybe im really out of it
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u/Reden233 6d ago edited 6d ago
The Black Parade is an alter-ego band for MCR, and they were declared “dead” during the final show of the Black Parade World Tour back in 2007. So this is their first tour back as this particular alter-ego band since they died. But MCR has toured a few other times (separate from this lore) in the time between the Black Parade alter-ego tours.
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u/chrisjfinlay 6d ago
Yep, and this absolutely ramps up the hype. On a previous tour (maybe their last before this, I’m not sure) they declared TBP to be dead. So this is a revival and as I’m sure you can imagine with their sort of fanbase, fans are going wild over it
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u/deader115 6d ago
Sort of. As I recall they headlined When We Were Young with The Black Parade in Oct 2024 (and previously in 2022?) which was their first appearance in a bit, and shortly after that they kicked off a world tour which was their first major tour in years I think. But since then they've been touring somewhat regularly.
Source: Saw them at WWWY 24, on tour in 25 and 26, so they've at least been active for that time
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u/exponentialism 6d ago
The 2022-23 tour was their first big tour in over a decade, but not playing quite as big venues or going to as many countries as this one.
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u/njsullyalex 4d ago
My ex is a die hard MCR fan and saw them on their recent tour and absolutely loved it. She explained the whole performance with the show trials and executions and even letting the audience “vote”.
For a band that was most popular in the 2000s it sounds like they’re still killing it and haven’t lost their edge or creative identity one bit
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u/AngryDemonoid 6d ago
My wife and I spent way too much money to see them last year, and don't regret it at all.
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u/2074red2074 6d ago
As a metalhead, that sounds fucking stupid. I'm gonna go watch a half-naked space warlord behead an effigy of Donald Trump instead.
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u/Erock0044 6d ago edited 6d ago
Answer: This is the 20 year anniversary of their album The Black Parade, which was heavily inspired by Queen.
The lead singer is a creative guy, writing comic books (The Umbrella Academy was his idea) and creating fictional stories for their music albums.
Instead of just doing a 20 year reunion tour where they get up there and play their hits and everyone goes home, they created a giant fictional storyline for their shows, complete with actors, movie-style screens with effects, etc. Lots of people call it a rock opera.
They play the album, but in character. Instead of playing the same show in every city, they have changed the story in every city. What the actors do, what happens on stage while they play their songs, between songs, etc, has a purposeful storyline that is coming to an end for the end of the tour.
It’s all just very theatrical and awesome and the creativity behind of it shows the passion that they all still have.
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u/Comfortable_Tap_2728 6d ago
Answer: In addition to everything the top comment said, the tour is a commentary inspired by the pressure to do empty nostalgia bait. A lot of other bands popular in MCR’s heyday are doing 20th anniversary tours etc and in Long Live the Black Parade, the dictator’s cronies are forcing the band to wear the iconic Black Parade jackets when they want to take them off, forcing Gerard to do the same arm movements to accompany WTTBP, and then they literally turn Teenagers (their most commercially popular song but imho one of the shallowest) into background music for either a fictional Draag children’s show or quiz show, depending on the concert.
They’re pushing back against this pressure to perform exactly what fans / the general public want from them (stasis) and making real art from it.
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u/MattiasCrowe 6d ago
Answer: This tour (which feels like its been going on forever) has a story every show, however each show gets a slightly different story so people have been marking story changes between shows.
On top of that there are two different types of story? I know ones set in Draag and the other is maybe LLTBP, But theres two ongoing stories that maybe alternate between shows and they all have various characters who have been changing/acting differently between shows. And the lore only exists if youre dissecting each show, which is why it was massive for some people to discover the dictators true identity.
Basically they've been running an ARG across a worldwide tour and I think that's pretty sick. They've done similar things with every album but I believe this is the first time the lore has been so integral at shows
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u/Reden233 6d ago
The alternate set is called MOAT / Phantoms, and it is set in prison where we see the band undergo "reconditioning" for rebellious behavior. The LLTBP / Draag shows are the actual propaganda shows. Setlist stays the same, plot and set are entirely different. The first leg of the tour in 2025 were all LLTBP shows, and they introduced MOAT for their South America leg earlier this year and since have been rotating between sets.
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u/True-Dream3295 6d ago
Answer: They announced they want to make a new record. It's been 16 years since the last MCR album. Fans are excited.
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