Classic MCR Live Review: 2008 Theatre Tour | 5-4-08 | Columbus, OH

Final installment of my "Classic MCR Live Reviews" series!

It has been a long journey since the start of this little project of mine, and it is now coming to a close with the final MCR show I saw before their hiatus.

With this, I am hoping to be able to share many more experiences with you all here, and am hoping that you all will be able to share right back. Heck, maybe I'll see you at a show someday and we can share our experiences in person!

My Chemical Romance with Billy Talent and Drive By @ Lifestyle Pavilion, May 4, 2008.

NOTE: This was originally posted a the time of the show and has received little editing

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You know what makes for very little sleep? Going to an MCR show the night/morning after your concert companion's prom. Fun times, indeed.

The day of May 3rd, while most of my friends were getting dressed up and prissy for prom, I was preparing all my usual MCR show needs, you know: Gatorade for in-line hydration, sunscreen, saltines to help calm my stomach, tickets in a safe and secure place, comfortable shoes, jeans that are sure to not fall down in the crowd, and my usual concert shirt. Of course, all of this was pretty much already in one place from not having unpacked since Chicago, so I had to suffer the rest of the day pacing nervously and waiting for my friend to get home from prom.

I had promised myself before she called me at eleven that night, that I would go to Emily's house and straight to sleep, but – of course - things never go as planned.

I got to her house, played some games with my friend's prom companions, and - before I knew it - it was two in the morning, and I had my alarm set for three. Great.
So, before the friends left, I forced myself upstairs and to bed, but I can never sleep before MCR shows anyway, so there wasn't much point in that.

I may have dozed for about a half hour, but definitely could not find satisfying slumber, and it wasn't so much of a bother. When I woke up at three, I was wide awake. I got ready, then woke Emily up and we were out the door (with much panicked difficulty, as; her car was blocked by her father's and I had to play traffic director).

May 4th

We zoomed to Columbus, hardly feeling our 3 a.m. tiredness because of our nerves. I forced down a cereal bar for a little bit of energy on the way, then we finally got there and were about 12th in line (the first people in line got there at 6pm the day before).

There began our quiet line-wait… until 8 a.m. when Starbucks opened and we all got fueled up. Ha!

We had to walk forever to go to the bathroom at Starbucks (and even farther to the Marriot Hotel before Starbucks was open). On a couple of my trips to Starbucks, I passed members of Drive By and Billy Talent. I don't really know them, so I gave them the polite nod. HA-HA! I was walking by the singer of Drive By and leaving him alone and he kind of veered toward me and made an effort to say, "Hello." It was really strange, but I smiled and said "Hello," and he acted like he was going to come over and talk to me, but I was still walking toward Starbucks. I REALLY HAD TO PEE!! I felt a bit rude or something, but I don't know why he would have wanted to talk to me anyway. SORRY I WAS AN ASS, TODD!! Ha-ha!

On the way back after that encounter, I discovered that The Police were playing at Nationwide Arena (across the road from Promowest and where MCR were supposed to play on the The Black Parade tour, but it got canceled because someone POISONED THEM. You know, The Black Parade Curse). Two guys who worked for Nationwide stopped me on my way back and were like, "Hey. Do us a favor when they come on stage over there and tell them they were supposed to be here last year." I was like, "0_0," but I told them that I was there for the whole fiasco. They shook their heads and were like, "man…" Ha-ha.

The line wait was fun and calm. I met a couple people from the MCRmy, and it was - all in all - a good time until we had to begin shifting the line forward and switching from the regular line to the Decibel Club line.

Now, the Decibel Club is something my friend and I were a part of for this show, because we had been fucked over by them so many times in the past. Members are granted free admission to four shows a year and are let in before the rest of the regular line. I vowed to myself before we had joined that I would do my best to make the club members see the logic in taking advantage of their being able to bring in three guests and use it for the people who were at the very front of the line and deserving of a spot at the front.

I convinced a few people and got a few of the line front people in, but a lot of people were pretty big snobs about it. It really sucked. One of the girls who was a DC regular told me that she had never seen people take in kids from the front of the line before and said, "That's the cool thing about MCR fans…" I hope some of the club members will take that with them and stop being jerks about their privileges.

So, my friend and I were first in line (except for a couple of girls who got let in first because they helped pick up trash for the venue). When we were let in, there was no real rush to get to the barricade, and we all got spots that we wanted. It was really great, but I so hate that it was at the expense of the kids who got there earlier than a lot of the DC members.

Before any band had begun playing, pushing and shoving and ramming at the barricade began. It was really ridiculous, and my friend and I really got the extreme brutality of it due to some of the people who stood around us.

Note: fear people at shows who feel they are, for whatever reason, entitled.

Beside a bit of belligerence, all was well in our barricade spots, and everyone started making shadow puppets against the concrete of the stage, which is the same tiny and close-to-barricade one on which I saw MCR in 2005. It was so great to see the boys there again-- to see them in and such intimate setting.

I think the capacity at the LC is 4,000- compare that to the size of some of the TBP tour venues, and you would be absolutely shocked.

It seemed like we waited forever for everyone to file into the venue as we listened to the same GREAT music that was played before bands the Chicago shows. That alone got me extremely pumped. I had thought that all the Alkaline Trio they were playing was a special for Chicago, but definitely not- the same pre-band music blared at these shows.

Finally, I saw the members of Drive By begin to shuffle around backstage and sing along to the Bouncing Souls song that was playing (and stared at me like I was crazy when one of them looked out and saw me singing it like crazy as well. HAH!).

Again, Drive By were awesome, and – for whatever reason - I was grinning through their entire set; just having so much fun and was so happy it was ridiculous.

I still have yet to get their CD, but I desperately want it now that I have a couple of Billy Talent CDs. MCR definitely picked a great line-up for this tour… I've never doubted their choices in opening bands, and nothing will ever be as great as when Alkaline Trio and Reggie and the Full Effect opened, but this was another great one, for sure. It turned me on to a couple great bands that I may not have ever gotten into without this tour.

Drive By's set (what I can remember, not in order):
"Boring"
"America (…)"
"One Thing"
"I Know How you Feel" (or something to that effect)

Billy Talent were, once again, phenomenal. Columbus was the last date that they were playing with MCR, so they spiced it up a little bit. I, again, grinned through their entire set and knew bits and pieces of their lyrics from prior shows so I could sing along a little bit, which made the BT experience even greater.

Ben (lead singer) was extra-funny for this show, joking about his new white shoes which were – apparently - hated by many on the tour, and about how many pretty girls were in the audience. He was like, "So many pretty girls, I'm like: *looks up* look up, *looks away* look away; *looks up* look up, *looks away* look away… Yea, so many pretty girls and none of them ever talk to me." Crowd: Awwww!!! He also joked that it was the drummer's 21st birthday and that he was a virgin looking to get laid. Ha-ha!

Quotes:
*"We're from Canada. Is this a Canadian-friendly city? –crowd cheers— You guys have a hockey rink across the road, only; your team sucks! *lowers voice to a dopey one* 'What'd you say, Fag?!'"

*"If someone falls, you pick them up- this aint no Limp Bizkit show!"

The best part of their set, however, was before their last song when Ben was like, "Now, you know I love MCR, but there is just one guy who I hate… One guy… and that. Is Bob Bryar." He was like, "Now, the only way I will regain my love for this man is if he comes out here right now and plays this song with us!"

So, here comes Bob, strutting onto the stage, wearing this hilarious long, blonde, curly, 80s-style wig with a headband around it. Funniest thing in the world, EVER!!

Their set, as I remember it:
"This is how it Goes"
"Line and Sinker"
"Red Flag"
"Surrender"
"Try Honesty"
"Fallen Leaves"
etc…

Finally, it was time for MCR, and as their banner was lowered, I was shocked to see that it had changed since Chicago: instead of their name being displayed huge above them, there loomed down upon us football players... SCARY football players!! Their background was of field lines, but from the pattern of it, it appeared to be a graveyard at a glance. Creeeeepy!

What made MCR's coming out even more creepy was that, instead of coming out to the playful and bouncy "Karate Kid" theme, they came out to the intro of their new song ("Stay"). I was so excited, and as they played the beginning of the song over and over, I kept bracing myself for them to go into it, and was beyond excited. They had been playing it during soundcheck, so I was close to positive that they WERE going to play it, then they all came out and went straight into "This is How I Disappear"- it was GREAT!!!

I can't remember the exact set, but I know that it was awesome and that I still had that goofy grin plastered on my face that had been there since the beginning of the show. I just was so happy that I had survived to get to this point and was ecstatic that the show was going so perfectly, because I knew it would be the last time I would see the boys for a long time.

Really, I honestly can't think of a better show to have seen them last. They were all having so much fun and you could tell; for instance, when Frank and Ray were running around the stage and literally kicking one another's asses. Ha-ha! Completely hilarious! Or when Frank ran to the side of the stage after Jake (cowbell Jake, "he's the youngest dude on tour and a total fucking virgin" - Gerard) and gave him a huge wedgie!!

The boys mentioned how they were supposed to play Nationwide last year on their TBP tour, and Gerard was like, "You didn't miss much- it was just a lot of this: *prances across the stage*"— I think, because they didn't get to play in C-bus last time they were there, they may have even lengthened their set for this show.

I was still holding my goofy grin almost all the way through the set, and Mikey was right in front of me and he was grinning the whole time too, so it was pretty much contagious. This was just a HAPPY show…

Well, apart from a few problems...

My friend was getting pretty hurt through a lot of MCR's set, but the pain brought one of the most empowering MCR show moments I've had… During "Kill All Your Friends," I noticed that a girl behind me was screeching in pain; so, I turned around to try to help her, and - from there - a lot of drama went down that made poor Mikey go "0_0", and I almost cried, because I got hurt for no reason, but it was exactly at the "you'll never get me alive!" part of the song. I raised both of my middle fingers, was crying, and screaming those lyrics at the top of my lungs. It was amazing; absolutely amazing!

Anyway- that was the only part of the show that was bad, but it lead to good things, so MOVING THE FUCK ON--

You could definitely tell that the show was really laid back and the guys were having fun when Gerard started pounding his fist on his leg and staring intently into the audience. He looked over at Toro and said to him, "I wanna try this. I don't think it's gunna work, though… *shakes head and continues*"

Then, Toro started clapping along with Gerard's leg-pounding and Gerard was like, "No! You can't help 'em!!" (This all was said away from the mic, so the crowd couldn't hear) but we had all started clapping along with him and he was like, "blahblahblahGerardisms blah- 's from this movie called "The Rock" [or something to that effect]. This dude gets onstage and starts doing this *stops talking to keep us clapping as he hits his fist against the side of his leg* and the whole crowd starts clapping, then he kills them all and it's fucking awesome. *walks away*"

LMAO!! I wish I could remember exactly how he said it, because it's was great.

THEY PLAYED "…JETSET…"! That was one of the last songs I had expected them to play, and one of my favorites. It has some of my favorite lyrics of any MCR song, and it was great, because Gerard sang those awesome lyrics on our side of the stage for the most part and looked down at us through a lot of the song. Man, do I love that song!

AND- during the encore after Gerard said, "we're going to have a chance to play a song now that we haven't had many chances to play in the U.S.," they went into "Desert Song". Ah, I felt so lucky to have been able to hear "Desert Song," "Jetset…" and "Halos" in my last show of tour. Fucking ammmaaazzzzinnnggg!!

More condense memorable moments :

-After "Mama" quote: "*whimper* I can't, I just can't…"

-Gerard ranted on and on forever about the Pirate's Cove. He was like, "That's around here somewhere right? Or am I wrong? I must be wrong…" We all kept screaming "Cincinnati," and I think he heard us, because he started to kinda smirk then was like, "Oh, not here at all then?" Silly ass.

-Frank turned his guitar to the side and went crazy humping it. Ha!! It was absolutely ridiculous!

-There was some word that Gerard kept mumbling over and over… I really wish I knew what it was, it was like "shumblsiusfis…"

- Gerard gave a speech about their going on break and the crowd "awww"-ed and we all must have given puppy-eyes at the same time, because he was like, "I know. I'm gunna miss you too… *rubs behind*… My ass is bummed about it, too" HA-HA!!


They ended with "Helena," and I ended the show with that same ridiculous grin on my face and tears in my eyes. It was so powerful, and I just got this sort of closure like, "this show was fucking great, and I WILL be able to wait for their next tour with these memories in my heart." Absolutely perfect…

So, we headed out as everyone was clearing, kicking empty cups on our way to the merch table where I got the "I Survived The Black Parade!" shirt, and we "Old Gregg-ed" with people in the merch line again. LMAO! We ran into our friend Jake on the way out, too, and Jake said he could see me in the front from where they were in the lawn, which is pretty bad-ass. I guess that's just one of the many perks of having bright red hair. :]

Emily and I made our way back to the car and were astounded when we saw all the people walking from Nationwide after having seen The Police... They were all clean and wearing nice clothes. LMAO!!

I think I calculated when I got home that I had been awake 33 out of 36 hours, so I took my bath (dozed a little 0_0), went to bed, and had to wake up for school in the morning. I seriously didn't recover well with the whole sleep thing...

…you know what is awesome as hell about this show? I left with a bruise on the PALM of my hand. How the HELL do you bruise your palm? Taha! I had been gripping the barricade so intensely the whole time that it made a battle-wound. Ha-ha!!

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The End. I hope you all enjoyed this blog series. I think there will be one more post related to it after this.

Don't worry, though, I'm cooking up more MCR blog series ideas.

::Previous entries

2005 Taste of Chaos | Green Day & MCR | Warped Tour, Columbus | Warped Tour, Charlotte | 2005 Headlining tour, Columbus | 2005 Headlining Tour, Ypsilanti | Headlining tour, Atlanta | Headlining tour, Canada | The Black Parade tour 2007, Atlanta | Projekt Revolution- Tampa, FL | Projekt Revolution- Raleigh, NC | 2008 Tour, Chicago (Day 1) | 2008 Tour, Chicago (Day 2)

The reason behind this blog series

XoXo
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