My Chemical Romance - 13th February 2011 Birmingham LG Arena

My Chemical Romance – 13th February 2011

Jess and I arrived at the LG arena at about 1.30 in the afternoon, having taken a 9.20 train from York to get us into Birmingham New Street for 12.20. The 9.20 train was the earliest we could get on a Sunday . Anyway, we got there and I raced upstairs in the Pallasades Shopping Centre in Birmingham to get to Blue Banana and buy a shirt (because I didn’t have any decent shirts for the gig), managed to pick one up in the sale which was awesome. We then caught a train to Birmingham International Station which is in the NEC complex and got off there. We met two other people there from Wolverhampton and quickly made friends with them.

Upon stepping outside of the NEC I realised that it was pouring with rain. Excellent. Queuing for five hours in the pouring rain was really how I envisaged spending my Sunday afternoon. Anyway, ended up in the early queue (obviously) about twenty or so people back from the doors and we made ourselves comfy (as you can in the pouring rain on the concrete ground); Jess – being a brainy person – had brought bin bags for us to sit on so even though we still got wet, our bums stayed mostly dry . I then went off to find the hotel (a Premier Inn) which said it would be within walking distance of the LG. It wasn’t. It was about three miles away which, yeah may be in walking distance on a warm summer’s night, but in February in the pouring rain it constitutes a taxi. So yada yada yada checked in to the hotel and dumped the bags in the room and hotfooted in back to the LG where I’d left Jess in the queue. She then went off to get hot drinks – which actually didn’t taste like gash (a nice surprise) – and then we continued to wait.

It soon got around to six and the doors opened. The way the ticket system works at Birmingham is a bit dumb though; you get your ticket scanned at the door and then you go wait in another little queue for someone to give you a wristband, you then have to wait to show your wristband before you actually get in. I suppose it’s all in the name of security but when you’re desperate to get in it’s just plain annoying. Anyhoo, got through and ran into the arena right to the centre and was one person deep from the barrier.

Unfortunately I got stuck behind two boyfriends the bane of any gig goers life. Their girlfriends were both on the barrier and they had their arms around them in a protective I’m-going-to-give-my-girlfriend-as-much-space-as-possible-and-if-anyone-touches-her-they-die kinda way. Fuckers. That’s why I said I was only one person deep from the barrier because the girls kept turning around to suck face with their bfs so they became one thing anyway.

We were waiting for a bit and then LOST ALONE came on. Hum. Now Jess really liked them but for some reason I just didn’t, I’m not saying they were bad – in fact they were good musicians and all – but they just didn’t connect with me. Don’t know why. They all looked lost Ramones as well... literally the bassist could have been Joey. So yeah, I wasn’t really into that and then they went off and there was a quick set change for THE BLACKOUT who I must say were really good. I’d never seen a band with two frontmen before and I was surprised at how well it worked and how they bounced off each other so well. The crowd were much more into The Blackout than they had been Lost Alone so there was a lot more dancing going on and stuff. So during The Blackout the crushing was insane and I was getting pushed from behind so much but I got one arm between two people on the barrier (one of the girlfriends being on my left which the boyfriend was not happy about). This girl kept trying to push my arm off the barrier but I don’t quite know where she thought I was going seeing as there was absolutely no space behind me. So in the middle of the blackout I just pushed really hard and turned around so I was fully on the barrier (albeit in a very small space) but I was there! So yeah bla bla bla *rest of the blackouts set* at one point they tried to get everybody to kneel down and it just wasn’t happening... I could barely bend my knees never mind actually get down on them! So that was a bit of fail. Then they went off, a black sheet came down so you couldn’t see the stage and the waiting began again.

The waiting was very boring and during the stupid amount of shoving and crushing that was going on during it, I lost Jess but she was with one of the guys we’d met earlier so she was alright. She’s only five foot so when I lose sight of her, I worry!! I was completely mashed against the barrier but who am I to complain, I was slightly to the left of the centre mic so (when there was no black curtain) I would be able to see everything. They were showing various Killjoy images on the big screens at either side of the stage, when one of Korse came up everybody booed.
At about 9.15 the house lights went down and the screams filled the place as spots of light started to illuminate the black curtain. At first they were just indefinable sploges as LOOK ALIVE SUNSHINE started up and everyone started to chant, but then as it got towards the middle of that intro you could see silhouettes of band members being to appear and then as NA NA NA kicked in, the black curtain fell and the place blew up. I was to the left of Frank, in front of Mikey and slightly to the right of Gerard (when he stood at the centre mic) but it was a fantastic place to be. I let my hair down at that point so when I could whip it back and forth (NOT LIKE WILLOW) over the barrier. Crushing notwithstanding, it was amazing.

I’m just gonna put the setlist out and stuff I can remember beside each one.

GIVE EM HELL, KID – can’t really remember much about this song other than the craziness of the crushing... sorry.

PLANETARY GO! – before this Gerard said “Do you wanna dance?” and everyone screamed and then he said, “Do you wanna dance with me?!” and everyone screamed louder. It was incredible! And the beat kicked in and everyone just went crazy.

HANG ‘EM HIGH – Once again... no sticking memories for this song other than the ginormous roar that came out of Gerard’s mouth at the beginning. I was like “Holy shit!!”

SING – tune!! It was amazing. This song is so good live. Even if you think it’s kinda boring on the album (like I did initially, I’ll admit) it was amazing live and the whole arena was just belting it out.

VAMPIRE MONEY – Loved this. They did the beginning bit which was awesome. You couldn’t actually hear the band members answer Gerard because the crowd did it for them. Well... I sort of heard Frank but that’s because he just to the left of me. I couldn’t hear Ray at all.

OUR LADY OF SORROWS – This fucking rocked. I was so happy they played this. They played it at Manchester and it was awesome and then they played it again and I could have cried (except I didn’t because I was too busy moshing... )

MAMA – No crazy memories for this song... Sorry. It was just a pile of awesome.

THE ONLY HOPE FOR ME IS YOU – The beginning of this was so beautiful. When everyone was chanting “Remember me” etc. It sounded so good in that place an just made me fall in love with the song even more than I already have done.

PARTY POISON – This was the one song where I took a break from singing (only for one verse) just because I was losing my voice so much. Gerard moaning during this song = wow.

SUMMERTIME – When Gerard introduced this I thought he said “cemetery” so I thought it was cemetery drive but then this kicked in and I realised I’d misheard him. I was glad they played this because it’s one of my favourites off danger days.

I’M NOT OKAY (I PROMISE) – Words fail me. Wow. I didn’t even hear Frank say “trust me” because the crowd was that loud.

FAMOUS LAST WORDS – EYE CONTACT DURING THIS SONG. I don’t care what people say about how they’re ‘not looking at you’... yes they fucking were. You know how when someone is looking directly at you and you at them, you know it? Well yeah. Mikey looked at me and I grinned at him and waved. Also got eye contact with Gerard and Frank at various times throughout the night. During this song as well Frank threw a pick and it landed on the floor beside a security guard. I hollered at him to pick it up and he did and gave it to me (I had to wrestle two other girls for it) but I ended up with Frank’s pick that stayed firmly in my hand for the rest of the night.

GHOST OF YOU – This and Destroya kind of melted into awesome.

DESTROYA – This was dedicated to a man who apparently has been to over 200 shows... how does he have the money?!?

WELCOME TO THE BLACK PARADE – ANTHEMIC. It was incredible. It is such a rallying call this song. Love it so much.

TEENAGERS – Gerard said something about not doing cocaine before this song and then something about his shirt and that there was a story behind it but he didn’t finish the story before going into teenagers.... odd!

THE KIDS FROM YESTERDAY – Love this song. It’s kinda sad because when you hear this you know the evening is closing down but it’s equally euphoric.

HELENA – YES! The part when it goes “can we pretend to meet again? when both our cars collide” was just so incredible to echo around. I can’t really describe it in readable english. A bit of keyboard smashing wouldn’t go amiss.

ENCORE

CANCER – Gerard came back on on his own. The set up was the same as it is in TBPID and he sang it in front of the spotlight. I burst into tears it was so emotional. :s. His voice just sounded so incredible but I could hear the flat singing (as we all are) of the girl next to me in my ear... oh well.

VAMPIRES WILL NEVER HURT YOU – MY NEW FAVOURITE SONG. Just because I got eye contact from Mikey, Frank and Gerard during this song. I don’t care what anyone else says. It felt special to me and it was awesome.

At the end they all went off, Frank taking his pictures of his babies with him and mouthing ‘thank you so much’ at the crowd and the house lights came up.

Other notes

- I got another Frank pick. A security guard gave it to me. I’m gonna make a necklace (like a dog-tag necklace) out of the two of them I have. They have the BL/ind insignia on it and then the words "frank iero. Fun ghoul" underneath, and they have a cartoon willy on the back.

- Gerard is one sexy mofo.... when he shakes his hips...

- He had writing on his arm but I didn’t know what it said.. sorry. It looked like in the middle there was an M. De(something)... It didn’t look like a tattoo but if it’s exactly the same as it was at Wembley then I guess it must be. I’ll have a noodle when I go to Newcastle and report back.

- Mike Pedicone is an amazing drummer – his fills were so good. End of story.

- I was so mashed against the barrier. At one point I couldn’t even put my heels down without standing on the toes of the girl behind me. I have so many bruises... my inventory currently runs to: a line on my ribs, three on my thighs, two on my calves, a load on my upper arms and one on my face.

- People kept getting pulled out over the top of me and a security guard had to keep putting his hand over my neck to protect it from flailing feet. At least nine people got pulled out over the top of me, it was insane. There were so many people getting pulled out. I got kicked in the back of the head three times. Yay. There goes most of my brain cells... oh well.

The show was amazing and for how much I’m aching now, I have two Frank picks to make me feel a hell of a lot better.
It was incredible. And I get to do it all again in 9 days time. To anyone who’s going to any of the shows... have fun, it’s awesome!!