My Chemical Romance made a rare instore appearance in London tonight (October 12).
The Emo rockers peformed a 35 minute set in front of 500 fans, some of whom had queued up outside Virgin Megastore on Oxford Street overnight just to get wristbands for the concert.
During the build up to the gig, fans were chanting “MCR! MCR!” before the band were greeted to huge cheers.
However the concert got off to a controversial start when Towers Of London‘s Dirk Tourette, who was watching the show with his band from the sidelines, flicked a cigarrette at My Chemical Romance drummer Bob Bryar while he was performing onstage.
A scuffle between MCR‘s management and Tourette ensued before the guitarist left the building with security.
My Chemical Romance later sparked mass singalongs as they performed a series of tracks throughout their short set, including new single ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’.
Singer Gerard Way, who was dressed in a black leather jacket, also slammed recent press reports that have made it appear that emo is under attack.
He told the audience before he launched into new track ‘Famous Last Words’: “There’s been a lot of sensationalism in the papers about some kind of bullshit that we are at war. We are not buying into that and you are not buying into that. We are not at war. We are definitely not at war.”
He also said that their new forthcoming album ‘The Black Parade’ was also the “most important album the band had ever made”.
As My Chemical Romance closed the show with ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’, in reference to his earlier comments, Gerard added: “I know we are not fighting a war but that doesn’t mean that you should change anything about yourself. That also means that you shouldn’t have to take anybody else’s shit.”
They played:
‘Give Em Hell, Kid’
‘Our Lady Of Sorrows’
‘Dead’
‘Cemetery Drive’
‘Welcome To The Black Parade’
‘Thank You For The Venom’
‘House Of Wolves’
‘Famous Last Words’
‘You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison’
‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’
Meanwhile My Chemical Romance have announced a new UK tour for spring.
They will appear at:
Plymouth Pavillions (March 20)
Brighton Centre (21)
Birmingham NIA Academy (22)
Manchester MEN (24)
Cardiff CIA (25)
Nottingham Arena (26)
Glasgow SECC (27)
London Wembley Arena (29)
Tickets for the shows go on sale from 9am this Friday (October 13). For availability after then, go to NME.COM/Gigs.
Before that the band will perform a series of sold out dates in the UK next month.
They will play:
Bournemouth International Centre (November 11)
London Brixton Academy (12)
Liverpool University (13)
Glasgow Barrowlands (14)
Nottingham Rock City (15)
Meanwhile, check out this week’s NME on newsstands nationwide now, for the definitive review of the band’s third album, ‘The Black Parade’.