13 years ago today, when I was 13 years old, I saw My Chemical Romance live for the first time. Can you believe I still have this lineup lmao
My best friend had stayed over the night before. We listened to Pencey Prep and Fall Out Boy, for some reason, and straightened our hair in front of the bathroom mirror that morning before dragging our feet to the Port Authority near Times Square. Of course there was smudged black eyeliner, it was middle school and we were emo.
We arrived at East Rutherford, NJ, for the Bamboozle Festival 2007. It was my first concert ever. The first two bands we saw started at 11:30am on the dot, at the first two stages we saw. We spent the rest of the day at the main stage, waiting for MCR. A plethora of scene greats performed for us: Bayside, Say Anything, Silverstein. We sweated and melted under the sun. At some point, someone got blood on my Vans. I left one time for hotdogs and sodas and managed to squeeze myself back to the front through sheer ignorance and force of will. A tall man named Toby apologized to everyone behind him. He had nice hair.
I had trouble breathing at some point and ended up having to leave the pit. The weight of 10,000 MCR fans trying to get as close to the stage as possible was too much. It devastated me. I was near the back for the rest of Hellogoodbye's set, who were playing right before MCR, and managed to catch some of Muse's set. Then it was back into the pit to get as close as possible to the stage for MCR.
I have a terrible memory. I can only give you snapshots. The screaming during soundcheck, the shadows moving onto the stage, the stranger that wrote "MCR saved my life" with black eyeliner on my face. (Yes, I was that dramatic.) The exhilarating and difficult to believe feeling when that heart monitor started and The Black Parade was suddenly lit up on stage, my voice leaving my throat with thousands of others as I witness one of my favorite albums live in its entirety. Gerard's silly banter and dance moves, the speech that brought me to tears and changed my life, Blood playing over the speakers when they left to take off their shitty makeup and costumes.
They played all of The Black Parade, followed by INO, Cemetery Drive, Venom, Give Em Hell, and finally Helena, clad in all black and leather jackets. On the ride back home, me and my best friend could barely talk and we were starving and dirty and so fucking happy. Fell asleep on each other.
I love My Chem. I have so many fond memories of those shows I went to in my teen years. I wish they knew how much it meant to me. I wish I could thank them for the shows I lost my voice at and all the gay friends I made along the way.
Tune in in a couple weeks when I get sappy about the final time, to date, that I saw them live: Bamboozle 2012.
