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.

The Black Parade World Tour

Tour by My Chemical Romance
Associated album	The Black Parade
Start date	February 22, 2007
End date	May 9, 2008
Legs	7
No. of shows	73 in North America 52 in Europe 9 in Asia 6 in Oceania 7 in South America 147 in total
My Chemical Romance concert chronology

Mikey Way, bassist, dressed in The Black Parade costume.

In most of the concerts there was extensive use of pyrotechnics, particularly during "Mama" and "Famous Last Words".

Background

Rise Against 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 as 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[1] 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 (from the "Welcome to the Black Parade" music video), 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

1. "The End."
2. "Dead!"
3. "This is How I Disappear"
4. "The Sharpest Lives"
5. "Welcome to the Black Parade"
6. "I Don't Love You"
7. "House of Wolves"
8. "Cancer"
9. "Mama"
10. "Sleep"
11. "Teenagers"
12. "Disenchanted"
13. "Famous Last Words"
14. "Blood"

Set two: Encores

15. "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)"
16. "Cemetery Drive"
17. "Thank You for the Venom"
18. "The Jetset Life Is Gonna Kill You"
19. "The Ghost of You"
20. "It's Not a Fashion Statement, It's a Fucking Deathwish"
21. "Give 'Em Hell, Kid"
22. "You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us In Prison"
23. "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.

Date	City	Country	Venue
North America
February 22, 2007	Manchester	United States	Verizon Wireless Arena
February 23, 2007	Uniondale		Nassau Coliseum
February 24, 2007	Hartford		New England Dodge Music Center
February 25, 2007	Philadelphia		Liacouras Center
February 26, 2007	Cleveland		Wolstein Center
February 28, 2007	Detroit		Joe Louis Arena
March 1, 2007	Rosemont		Allstate Arena
March 2, 2007	Topeka		Kansas Expocentre
March 3, 2007	Lincoln		Pershing Center
March 4, 2007	Denver		Magness Arena
March 6, 2007	West Valley City		E Center
March 7, 2007	Las Vegas		Orleans Arena
March 9, 2007	Glendale		Jobing.com Arena
March 10, 2007	Inglewood		The Forum
March 11, 2007	Anaheim		Anaheim Convention Center
March 13, 2007	San Diego		iPay One Center
March 14, 2007	Fresno		Selland Arena
March 15, 2007	Oakland		Oracle Arena
March 16, 2007	Reno		Lawlor Convention Center
Europe
March 20, 2007	Plymouth	England	Plymouth Pavilions
March 21, 2007	Brighton		Brighton Centre
March 22, 2007	Birmingham		National Indoor Arena
March 24, 2007	Manchester		Manchester Evening News Arena
March 25, 2007	Cardiff	Wales	Cardiff International Arena
March 26, 2007	Nottingham	England	Nottingham Arena
March 27, 2007	Glasgow	Scotland	Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre
March 29, 2007	London	England	Wembley Arena
March 30, 2007
April 1, 2007	Dublin	Ireland	Royal Dublin Society
April 3, 2007	Cologne	Germany	Palladium^1
April 4, 2007	Paris	France	Élysée Montmartre^1
April 6, 2007	Berlin	Germany	Columbiahalle^1
April 7, 2007	Hamburg		Alsterdorfer Sporthalle^1
April 9, 2007	Malmö	Sweden	Baltiska Hallen^1
April 10, 2007	Copenhagen	Denmark	K.B. Hallen^1
North America
April 14, 2007	Houston	United States	Reliant Arena
April 15, 2007	Frisco		Pizza Hut Park
April 16, 2007	San Antonio		AT&T Center
April 18, 2007	Pensacola		Pensacola Civic Center
April 19, 2007	Tampa		St. Pete Times Forum
April 22, 2007	Sunrise		BankAtlantic Center
April 24, 2007	Duluth		Arena at Gwinnett Center
April 25, 2007	Nashville		Nashville Municipal Auditorium
April 26, 2007	Charlotte		Cricket Arena
April 27, 2007	Columbia		Merriweather Post Pavilion
April 28, 2007	Williamsburg		William & Mary Hall
April 29, 2007	State College		Bryce Jordan Center^2
May 1, 2007	Columbus		Nationwide Arena^2
May 2, 2007	Pittsburgh		Petersen Events Center^2
May 3, 2007	Glens Falls		Glens Falls Civic Center^2
May 4, 2007	Reading		Sovereign Center^2
May 5, 2007	East Rutherford		The Bamboozle
May 6, 2007	Portland		Cumberland County Civic Center^2
May 8, 2007	Worcester		DCU Center
May 9, 2007	Montreal	Canada	Bell Centre
May 10, 2007	Ottawa		Scotiabank Place
May 11, 2007	Toronto		Air Canada Centre
May 12, 2007	London		John Labatt Centre
May 15, 2007	Winnipeg		MTS Centre
May 16, 2007	Saskatoon		Credit Union Centre
May 17, 2007	Edmonton		Rexall Place
May 18, 2007	Calgary		Pengrowth Saddledome
May 20, 2007	Vancouver		Virgin Festival
May 21, 2007	Seattle	United States	WaMu Theatre
May 22, 2007	Portland		Veterans Memorial Coliseum
"World Tour" – Asia, Europe, Mexico and Australia
May 29, 2007	Tokyo	Japan	Nippon Budokan
June 1, 2007	Nürburg	Germany	Rock am Ring
June 2, 2007	Nuremberg		Rock im Park
June 3, 2007	Prague	Czech Republic	T-Mobile Arena
June 5, 2007	Amsterdam	Netherlands	Heineken Music Hall
June 8, 2007	Castle Donington	England	Download Festival
June 11, 2007	Saint Petersburg	Russia	Ice Palace
June 13, 2007	Moscow		Luzhniki Palace of Sports
June 15, 2007	Venice	Italy	Heineken Jammin' Festival
June 16, 2007	Nickelsdorf	Austria	Nova Rock Festival
June 17, 2007	London	England	Wembley Stadium
June 19, 2007	Paris	France	Zénith de Paris
June 20, 2007	Bordeaux		Le Krakatoa
June 22, 2007	Bilbao	Spain	Bilbao BBK Live
June 23, 2007	Madrid		Metrorock (summer festival)
June 24, 2007	Lisbon	Portugal	Coliseu dos Recreios
June 26, 2007	Barcelona	Spain	Razzmatazz (concert venue)
June 28, 2007	Werchter	Belgium	Rock Werchter
June 30, 2007	Arendal	Norway	Hove Festival
July 1, 2007	Gothenburg	Sweden	Pier Pressure
July 3, 2007	Helsinki	Finland	Helsinki Ice Hall
July 4, 2007	Dresden	Germany	Ostragehege
July 6, 2007	Roskilde	Denmark	Roskilde Festival
July 7, 2007	Kinross	Scotland	T in the Park
July 8, 2007	County Kildare	Ireland	Oxegen
October 4, 2007	Monterrey	Mexico	Auditorio Coca-Cola
October 7, 2007	Mexico City		Palacio de los Deportes
October 30, 2007	Bratislava	Slovakia	ŠH Pasienky
November 2, 2007	Vienna	Austria	Wiener Stadthalle
November 3, 2007	Milan	Italy	Palasharp
November 4, 2007	Zürich	Switzerland	Eulachhalle
November 6, 2007	Brussels	Belgium	Les Halles de Schaerbeek
November 7, 2007	Luxembourg	Luxembourg	Den Atelier
November 8, 2007	Düsseldorf	Germany	Philipshalle
November 11, 2007	Newcastle	England	Metro Radio Arena
November 12, 2007	Aberdeen	Scotland	Aberdeen Exhibition and Conference Centre
November 13, 2007	Sheffield	England	Hallam FM Arena
November 15, 2007	London		The O2 Arena
November 17, 2007	Belfast	Northern Ireland	King's Hall
November 28, 2007	Brisbane	Australia	Brisbane Entertainment Centre
November 30, 2007	Sydney		Sydney Entertainment Centre
December 1, 2007	Melbourne		Rod Laver Arena
December 3, 2007	Adelaide		Adelaide Entertainment Centre
December 6, 2007	Auckland	New Zealand	Vector Arena
December 9, 2007	Kuala Lumpur	Malaysia	Stadium Merdeka
December 11, 2007	Singapore	Singapore	Singapore Expo
December 14, 2007	Honolulu	United States	Neal S. Blaisdell Center
Asia
January 20, 2008	Ho Chi Minh City	Vietnam	Quân khu 7 Stadium
January 22, 2008	Seoul	South Korea	Olympic Hall
January 25, 2008	Manila	Philippines	Fort Bonifacio Open Field-Taguig
January 27, 2008	Taipei	Taiwan	National Taiwan University Sports Center
January 29, 2008	Chek Lap Kok	Hong Kong	AsiaWorld–Expo
January 31, 2008	Jakarta	Indonesia	Jakarta Convention Center
South America
February 12, 2008	Bogotá	Colombia	Simón Bolívar Park^3
February 15, 2008	Rio de Janeiro	Brazil	Vivo Rio
February 17, 2008	Curitiba		Hellooch
February 18, 2008	São Paulo		Via Funchal
February 19, 2008
February 22, 2008	Buenos Aires	Argentina	Estadio Ricardo Etcheverry
February 24, 2008	Santiago	Chile	Arena Santiago
February 27, 2008	Caracas	Venezuela	Poliedro de Caracas
North America
March 28, 2008	Tempe	United States	Tempe Beach Park Amphitheater
March 29, 2008	Tucson		Rialto Theatre
March 30, 2008	Las Vegas		The Joint
March 31, 2008
April 2, 2008	San Jose		San Jose Civic Auditorium
April 3, 2008	San Francisco		The Warfield
April 4, 2008
April 6, 2008	Irvine		Bamboozle
April 8, 2008	Portland		Crystal Ballroom
April 9, 2008
April 11, 2008	Magna		Saltair
April 12, 2008	Mexico City	Mexico	Zero Fest
April 14, 2008	Denver	United States	The Fillmore Auditorium
April 15, 2008	Kansas City		Memorial Hall
April 17, 2008	Chicago		Congress Theater
April 18, 2008
April 19, 2008	Detroit		The Fillmore Detroit
April 20, 2008
April 22, 2008	Cleveland		Agora Theatre
April 24, 2008	New Orleans		House of Blues - New Orleans
April 25, 2008	Baton Rouge		X-Fest @ Baton Rouge River Center
April 26, 2008	The Woodlands		Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
April 27, 2008	Frisco		Pizza Hut Park
April 28, 2008	Austin		Stubbs Amphitheatre
April 30, 2008	Birmingham		Sloss Furnaces
May 2, 2008	Memphis		Beale St. Festival
May 3, 2008	St. Louis		The Pageant
May 4, 2008	Columbus		Lifestyle Communities Pavilion
May 6, 2008	Philadelphia		Electric Factory
May 7, 2008
May 9, 2008	New York City		Madison Square Garden

• ^Note 1 The last six shows on this leg, in Germany, France, Sweden, and Denmark, were stripped down shows that featured an abridged setlist and no theatrics.
• ^Note 2 Six shows between April 29 and May 6 were cancelled due to illness caused by salmonella and food poisoning that the band and crew members suffered.[2]
• ^Note 3 The show in Colombia was cancelled.

References

1. "The Automatic 2007 Interview". Designer Magazine. 2006. Retrieved 2008-03-15.
2. "My Chemical Romance, Muse Poisoned". Ultimate Guitar. 2007-05-02. Retrieved 2008-04-20.

External links

• My Chemical Romance tour dates
• My Chemical Romance at MySpace
• My Chemical Romance Fansite