The Black Parade World Tour



The Black Parade World Tour' was a concert tour to support and celebrate My Chemical Romance's third album The Black Parade. The tour featured 133 performances worldwide, as well as several festival and condensed shows. The tour is the longest and most internationally comprehensive headlining tour that the band has played to date, featuring three legs in North America, one leg in Europe and one in Asia, Australia and South America. During the tour, the band's drummer Bob Bryar suffered several different medical issues and towards the tour's end, took a hiatus to allow himself to heal and returned for the final few shows of the tour, while bass player Mikey Way also took a hiatus to marry his fianceé and spend time with her before going onto the road. A concert was filmed at the performance in Mexico City from the tour, which was released as a part of the CD/DVD set The Black Parade Is Dead!''. The CD features the audio from the concert, and the DVD contains both the Mexico concert and another in New Jersey later in the same month.

Background

was the support act on the first leg of the tour in the United States, which began February 22, 2007 in Manchester, New Hampshire, and ended on March 16 in Reno, Nevada. The band then took the show to Europe with bands Thursday and Funeral for a Friend. The band then returned to North America for more shows in the US with Muse and The Bled. The band performed the full show on two more occasions in May and June 2007. The band then embarked on the 2007 Projekt Revolution tour, with a new set and production. However, beginning in October 2007, the band resumed the production of The Black Parade tour for dates in Mexico, Europe, and Australia. Pop Shuvit was the opening act for the concert in Kuala Lumpur as well as two other shows in the Asian leg of the tour.
James Dewees, of Reggie and the Full Effect was the keyboardist for the tour and appears in costume like the other five members, which led some to believe he became a permanent member of the band, although he did not appear in the My Chemical Romance portion of the show, only The Black Parade set.
To signal that the band was nearing the end of touring for the album, The Black Parade, the concert in Mexico City was filmed of a live DVD entitled The Black Parade Is Dead!, which was released July 1, 2008.

Tour supports

Support for the tour during the first USA length came from Rise Against and Thursday, whilst on parts of the European tour LostAlone and Funeral for a Friend supported on some dates, as did Rise Against and Thursday, The Automatic were originally rumoured to be playing some UK dates with the band however instead went on to tour the USA on Warped Tour, Muse supported on the next leg of the USA tour, as did Billy Talent on several dates, except for the last two where they were replaced by Taking Back Sunday. For the Australian leg of the tour, Circa Survive supported My Chemical Romance, as well as now broken-up alternative band The Getaway Plan.

Absences

Throughout the tour, three members of the band missed certain concerts as a result of various reasons. From April 18, 2007 until August 31, 2007, Matt Cortez filled in for Mikey Way on bass. Way left the tour after he married his fiancée, Alicia. For the concerts in Mexico onwards, Mikey rejoined the band. Following the November 11 show in Newcastle, it was announced that Frank Iero had left the tour to return home after learning about a family member's illness. For the remainder of the UK and international dates, Matt Cortez filled in for Iero. Bob Bryar also had to retire from the tour prior to the start of the UK dates, after persistent wrist pains became worse and he was unable to play the shows. Bob did however travel with the band for the remainder of the tour, assisting with the pyrotechnics. He was replaced by "a friend of ours named Pete who plays in another band, who has asked us kindly not to say the name", according to Gerard Way. Bryar then returned to the tour from the group's performance in Vietnam on January 20, 2008.

Theatrics

The band's stage show includes a range of theatrical elements. As the concert begins, the lights are darkened, and a large curtain secludes the stage from view. Then, lead singer Gerard Way is wheeled out in front of the curtain on a hospital gurney, complete with faux IV, and sings the opening track of The Black Parade, "The End." When the loud, blasting chorus chimes in, the singer's hospital gown is ripped off, revealing his black marching band uniform. Then the curtain is opened to reveal the remainder of the band, also in full costume. These costumes are different from the original ones designed by Colleen Atwood for the band, as they are all streamlined and look the same, whereas the previous outfits were higher quality and unique to each member of the band. The rest of the show includes fog, confetti cannons, stage mounted spotlights, "boom cannons" and the band's first use of pyrotechnics in a show. After finishing the entire album in order, the band returns for an encore of older material. The stage setup for the encore is the band's old Revenge logo.

Stage

The stage during the Black Parade mimics album artwork. The stage is set up exactly like an image from the artwork featuring the band and all the characters, with curtains with a starry design on the left and right, a large city skyline backdrop, and a large house structure. Bob Bryar's drums are set up on a large rotating platform, which features two kits in different setups and different designs on the bass drum. On the left side of the stage is a small platform which houses a spotlight Gerard uses between the second and third choruses of "Teenagers". On the opposite side is James Dewees's keyboards. Huge black curtains are opened at the beginning of the show and remain drawn back during the performances. Finally, a clock hangs at the roof of the stage, although it is only for decoration and is not used during the show.

Setlist

The band's performance is divided into two parts. First, they perform The Black Parade album from start to finish as the Black Parade; in the costumes worn in the music videos from the album. Following this, the band takes an intermission break to change into regular clothing, while the recording of their song "Blood" is played. The band then returns and plays songs from their previous albums as My Chemical Romance.
;Set one: The Black Parade:
  2. "The End."
  3. "Dead!"
  4. "This is How I Disappear"
  5. "The Sharpest Lives"
  6. "Welcome to the Black Parade"
  7. "I Don't Love You"
  8. "House of Wolves"
  9. "Cancer"
  10. "Mama"
  11. "Sleep"
  12. "Teenagers"
  13. "Disenchanted"
  14. "Famous Last Words"
  15. "Blood"
;Set two: Encores:
  2. "I'm Not Okay "
  3. "Cemetery Drive"
  4. "Thank You for the Venom"
  5. "The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You"
  6. "The Ghost of You"
  7. "It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Fucking Deathwish"
  8. "Give 'Em Hell, Kid"
  9. "You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us In Prison"
  10. "Helena"
The encore set for the later legs of the tour was shortened. The B-side, originally intended for The Black Parade album, "Heaven Help Us", was also performed at a few select shows. Also, the songs "Desert Song", "Kill All Your Friends" and "My Way Home Is Through You" were performed during the fifth leg. During the end of the fourth leg and fifth leg, two new songs were performed.

Tour dates

The band also played at KOKO, London on April 2, as an exclusive Radio 1 private gig, for ticket winners only.
The band also played EdgeFest in Dallas, Texas on April 15, Universal's Grad Bash in Orlando, Florida from April 20 to April 21, followed by The Bamboozle Music Festival on May 5 in New Jersey, and Virgin Festival in Vancouver, British Columbia on May 20. By embarking upon the Projekt Revolution tour with Linkin Park, it appeared that the band had completed the tour, however after finishing Projekt Revolution, the band returned to the production and stage setup of this tour for two shows in Mexico in October 2007, later to be extended again.