On Halloween 2019, beloved New Jersey rock band My Chemical Romance made a shocking announcement on their blog and social media accounts unveiling their surprise comeback.
They announced a singular show at the Shrine Expo Hall, a 6,300 capacity venue in Los Angeles, California. (That long-awaited reunion show took place on December 20th and featured support from fellow New Jersey band Thursday, whose frontman Geoff Rickley produced their debut album, I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love.)
The band began their journey back in the early 00s, forming near the end of 2001 after lead singer and frontman Gerard Way witnessed the collapse of the World Trade Center towers. Way felt extremely shocked by the horrible event and cited it as a reason for making the giant transition in his life that was forming a band, a sharp transition away from his art career, for which he received a bachelor’s degree in 1999.
The band’s core lineup fell into place in 2002 with Gerard Way on vocals, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and Gerard’s brother Mikey playing bass. Their drummer at the time was Matt Pelissier. (The band has a small amount of infamy for switching drummers often. Their most famous drummer was Bob Bryar.) They released Bullets shortly after.
The band went on to release three more studio albums, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge in 2004, The Black Parade in 2006, and Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys in 2010. They created hits such as “Helena,” “I’m Not Okay (I Promise),” “Welcome to the Black Parade,” “Teenagers,” and “Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)” along the way.
My Chemical Romance had magic at their fingertips and an extremely passionate young fanbase that provided constant support for over a decade, which made their breakup that much more devastating. The members of My Chemical Romance amicably broke up the band in 2013, but their fanbase was saddened nonetheless. The band’s individual members maintained success in various fields. Guitarist and backup singer Frank Iero found success as a frontman of his own band, whose name he changes every album cycle. Iero and his band played Riot Fest 2019 in Chicago just this past September. I was lucky enough to have a short but friendly and sentimental interaction with him in the press area.
Gerard Way had continued success in music, releasing his solo debut album Hesitant Alien. More significantly, he pursued his passion of comic books to great success. Among many achievements for his works, his Umbrella Academy series received the television treatment and was released through Netflix.
Although the fanbase constantly supported the core four’s solo efforts, there was always the desire and speculation for a reunion. Fans threw out conspiracy theories for years with almost no real evidence, but the fire was fueled even more in 2016 when the band suddenly began releasing videos on their social media accounts.
To say that fans were very excited is an understatement, but their expectations were too high. Those videos were only an announcement of a 10th anniversary reissue of their Black Parade album. Nonetheless, fans got the band’s attention. They made an official announcement confirming that they had no plans of getting back together, but they expressed a deep amount of gratitude and flattery.
That flat-out denial a few years ago made their actual return even more exciting. Along with a string of cryptic videos, several shows and festival appearances were announced throughout the UK, Japan, and Australia among many other countries. Tickets sold out quickly to many of those stadium-sized events, but the North American portion of their fanbase was still anxious for official confirmation.
The official announcement for the North American tour came on January 31, 2020. Many locations sold out quickly, prompting a second date to be added in their home of New Jersey and up to four dates in total for Los Angeles.
What was most exciting for WXAV and Chicago was that My Chemical Romance was the first act revealed for Riot Fest 2020. At the time of writing this article, all of their non-festival performances are sold out. The band once again expressed gratitude and excitement. Although many members of the fanbase are openly disappointed in the band’s choice to sell tickets on Ticketmaster, they are nonetheless reciprocating that excitement.
They have yet to announce a new single or album, but it’s clear that My Chemical Romance are a powerful force and their fans have a lot to look forward to from them in the future.