It is nearly impossible to talk about any of My Chemical Romance’s former members without dedicating a good portion of it to the fact that they were in My Chemical Romance. Like everyone who has ever given the time of day to alternative rock music before 2009, MCR was a vital portion of my music library. I never sought any of it out. These songs always just sort of landed there.

After the band called it quits, I found myself not caring as much. I never followed up on why they broke up, never bothered listening to their solo projects. It wouldn’t be the same. At least, that’s what I thought.

The CMJ Music Marathon added Gerard Way to the festival’s bill this year. It made sense. Way was touring in support of his most recent record, Hesitant Alien, and New York City would be the last stop. I got to the venue just in time for his set. The place was loud and as he described it, generated a very “glam rock” atmosphere. A lot of his fans flocked the area, although not enough of them to sell out Webster Hall’s main stage. The crowd went nuts as he started playing his first song. He was there to tear the place up. Like, literally.

A few minutes into the set, security found themselves bewildered as the main floor’s barricade bent down onto the floor from the amount of pressure that fans had put onto it.

The next ten minutes were spent trying to repair the damage with Way telling everyone to move back. Once everything was fixed, an hour of pure rock and roll ensued. Way played a lot of his original material including crowd-pleasers like “Zero Zero,” “Drugstore Perfume,” and “Maya The Psychic,” which he dedicated to all his transgender fans in the room.

A lot of guests were also in the house that night. One of them was CJ Ramone of The Ramones. Way announced that he was very honored to have many of his friends and guests around. He played most of the songs from his new record and a couple of covers. The most important cover he played was Sleater-Kinny’s “I Wanna Be Your Joey Ramone” which he has played to close out every show on this tour.

I was glad to be in the presence of such a supportive fanbase. By the looks of it, a lot of them are still not okay about the breakup, but at least they had the time of their lives that night.

Review written by Dana Reandelar

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Dana Reandelar

If not hunched over her desk writing about music, Dana can be found binge-watching old episodes of Gilmore Girls or condensing long rants to 140 characters. She also writes for Idobi Radio, and is an Off The Record podcast contributor.

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