In 2007, following the release of their critically acclaimed album The Black Parade, My Chemical
Romance embarked on a tour spanning multiple continents and a year and a half worth’s of
show dates. The band was known for theatrics, and The Black Parade Tour did not shy away.
The shows saw the band, dressed as alter-ego group ‘The Black Parade’, performing their hit
album in full, before becoming My Chemical Romance once more to play older hits from
previous records. In October 2007, this all changed. Filmed in Mexico, the band released a
concert film, during which the fictional ‘Black Parade’ band was killed. Entitled The Black Parade
is Dead!, the show evokes the phrase, ‘the king is dead, long live the king.’ From this point
onwards, the Black Parade Tour shifted, the band playing entirely as My Chemical Romance,
and no longer playing the album in full. In 2013, lead singer Gerard Way announced that My
Chemical Romance had broken up, leading to heartbreak amongst emo fans worldwide.
2019 brought unexpected new horizons for the band. While Joe Jonas had been driving the
rumour mill, the band’s reunion on Halloween came as a shock to many. Embarking on the
Swarm tour, this new version of My Chemical Romance was right back to where they left off,
with lead singer Gerard Way dressing as a bloodied ‘Meta Man’, a pyromaniac cheerleader, and
everything in between. After Swarm was over, fans were left asking: what’s next?
The answer arrived in the form of a response to The Black Parade is Dead!, a new tour entitled
Long Live the Black Parade, answering the call all the way from 2007. As in the original tour, My
Chemical Romance would play a set as ‘The Black Parade’, before departing to the B-Stage to
play songs outside of the album. Beginning in 2025, Long Live the Black Parade charted the
revival of dead alter-ego band ‘The Black Parade’, and their induction into a tyrannical state
known as DRAAG. After spending 17 years in the ‘MOAT’ (originally assumed by fans to be
some sort of prison), the band have been reanimated for use as the national artist, promoting
messages for the Grand Immortal Dictator. The concert begins with a series of rules, written in
made up language ‘Keposhka’ – designed to evoke Cyrillic lettering – that enforce strict
behaviour and outlandish requests from the audience.
A few songs into the album, Gerard Way asks the audience to vote on the execution of five men
on the B-Stage. Fans are given ‘Yea’ or ‘Nay’ signs as they enter the venue. It becomes quickly
clear that no matter the result of the vote, these men would be executed by gun fire. Later in the
tour, these signs changed to options like ‘Chicken’ or ‘Fish’ – the audience is left powerless to
the violence enacted by the state of DRAAG.
The show sees multiple characters involved with the band and the rule of the Grand Immortal
Dictator interact with Gerard Way, including a character called the Clerk, who seems to oversee
the suppression of any rebellious behaviour. The tour acts as a time loop, the band going
through the motions of life in DRAAG, stuck in this dictatorship and desperate to leave. By the
end of the show, a Clown, with a bomb strapped to his chest, explodes the stage. In the final
show of the leg, we see ‘The Black Parade’ kidnapped, and Gerard Way dead all over again, in
a striking call back to 2007’s original tour.
When My Chemical Romance announced further legs in South America, Europe, and Asia, fans
wondered whether the show would change its tune, as it did after Mexico’s ‘The Black Parade is
Dead!’. On January 25th
, the band played the first show of the new leg in Lima, Peru, this time
set in a mental hospital, rather than the concrete urban landscape of DRAAG. The show
remains similar, with characters forcing the band in line. A major change is the role of the Clerk,
who no longer acts as an antagonist, instead befriending Way. However, the show does not end
with the massacre of the band, but instead, the brutal murder of the Clerk. Way stabs him
repeatedly, tearing out his intestines. It’s grotesque, yet compelling, seeing him turn against his
friend.
Fans quickly realised that this new leg of the show was set in the past. While previous
speculation assumed the ‘MOAT’ the band were stuck in prior to Long Live the Black Parade
was some sort of prison, this new show depicts it as a psychiatric ward. It tells the story of the
initial reconditioning the band undertakes under the Grand Immortal Dictator, turning friends like
the Clerk into enemies, giving new context to the figures of the US leg of tour.
Despite the extensive lore behind the show, My Chemical Romance has faced criticism in the
wake of Long Live the Black Parade. With growing discourse online around nostalgia in rock
and emo spaces following the revitalisation of Warped Tour, and the newly started When We
Were Young Fest, My Chemical Romance’s insistence on touring a 20-year-old album has
gained accusations of ‘nostalgia bait’ – preying on nostalgia to generate income. Since their
reunion in 2019, the band has only released one new song – ‘The Foundations of Decay’ –
despite posting promotional material on Instagram across the last seven years that could point
to a new album. MCR5 is like the rapture; fans await it, mark dates, and when it does not
happen, shift these dates further. Most recently, the My Chemical Romance Instagram posted a
video merely saying ‘Phantom’ in electric green text, an aesthetic far removed from that of the
Black Parade. As of yet, nothing has come of this, and nothing may ever come of it. It may just
be a merch drop.
While Long Live the Black Parade gives something to casual fans, with its performance of the
band’s best performing album, and super-fans alike, with themes of political corruption to dig
into, there still feels like a gap at times. Whether My Chemical Romance ever releases new
music remains to be seen,