My Chemical Romance @ London 02 Arena - Thursday 15/11/07

(This was written on Friday 16/11/07 - hope you like).

My husband and I went to see MCR at London 02 Arena last night and I've just got to say, OOHHHHHHH MMYYYY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!

I can honestly say that it's the best I've ever seen them perform, and I should know as last night was the fifth time I've seen them in a period of twelve months. I've heard a lot of people saying that they've not been playing too well just at the minute, but on the basis of what I witnessed last night, anyone doubting MCR's ability to perform and put on an amazing show, seriously has not got a bloody clue and are speaking right out their arses!

Mindless Self Indulgence also blew me away! They really got the crowd going and Jimmy Urine is one of the best frontmen I've seen in quite a while (obviously Gerard Way is MY FAVOURITE FRONTMAN EVER!). He's got an amazing voice and really knows what buttons to press with the audience. The highlights of their set were the crowd favourites, "Clarissa", "Stupid MF", "Bitches", and not to mention the ultimate crowd pleaser "Shut Me Up". Lyn-Z amazed us all by surfing far into the madding crowd. At the end of their set, Jimmy and Steve treated us to a roaring, comedic rendition of "There's No Business Like Show Business"; utter class!

Right, back to MCR. They opened theirs set with their new song "Stay" which was just totally awesome. Anyone who was expecting The Black Parade set, may have been slightly disappointed; but no, not me! They played songs from their entire back catalogue so far; amazing us all with (my all time favourite) "Headfirst for Halos". They also went on to play songs like "Helena", "Cemetery Drive", "You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison", "Honey....", "Thank You For The Venom" and so on and so forth. Of course, there were songs from The Black Parade which the higlights for me were "Mama", "Dead" and "Sleep". They of course played "Welcome to The Black Parade" and "Famous Last Words", which were also immense beyond words! It was when they played "I'm Not OK (I promise)" though, that the crowd went ballistic! It was pure, unadulterated fun; amazing.

The biggest suprise of the night though was an amazing rendition of "Desert Song". Oh My God, I very nearly turned into a blithering, crying wreck. It was utterly fantastic. It gave me goosebumps and it was a true testament to the band's diversity and courage to pull something like this out of the bag; it was a hardcore fan's dream come true!

The concert all went by in a bit of a blurr to be honest 'cus it was so fantastic, and I'm really struggling to remember every song they did, so apologies for missing out anything. Whatever I can think of later on, I will obviously add on.

After the gig, we decided to hang round out back to try and meet the band, which unfortunately didn't happen on this occasion (nevermind, it's not ike I haven't met them before) and I never got the chance to pass my letter on to anyone to give to the band. I think we were probably waiting in the wrong place though, 'cus there was only eight of us who managed to brave the cold weather until 02:30 am this morning. We saw a van come out and one of our fellow revellers shouted to us that Ray was in the back of the van, and yes, sure enough he popped his head up and realised there were fans waiting. Unfortunately, that was all we got of seeing the band after the gig (and we were pretty sure we saw Gerard leave to in another vehicle). Nevermind though; our spirits remained undampened and intact.

My husband and I met a fantastic group of people while we were waiting out back. They made our time waiting so much fun and we want to offer love and thanks to them. In no particular order, they were: Gavin (the beret-wearing, lazy-eyed cheeky chappy), Gemma (who shared wearage of my Black Parade marching jacket with Gavin), George and Tilly (don't worry guys, you wouldn't have met MCR anyway and getting up for school is very important). Oh, and we also met a lovely couple from Norway. The fella's band's called FUMIGATE, so check them out on my friend's list. Apologies for not remembering everyone who made our night; please if you remember us all out back singing "MCR, MCR, MCR, MCR" to every friggin' car/van etc that drove past us through the back gates, please look me up. It'd be fab to try and keep in touch with everyone!

I'd also like to say hi to Sarah and Leighton Denham. Sarah's a good friend of mine from work, and she has never been to a live gig before so I was a little concerned that the gig may be a bit of a baptism of fire and a little too much to handle, but handle it she did; she's only just stopped telling me what a fantastic night she had and that she'll never forget it! Bless her; here's to many more live gigs Sarah.

So in summary; this was ONE HELL OF AN EXPERIENCE, let alone a fantastic show performed a fantastic band; I love them so dearly! Anyone who could ever doubt MCR's determination and conviction as a band and the love and respect they have for their fans, really needs to get their head checked. Their music is all that counts anyway; not if they're hot or not!

One of the best nights of my life (barr getting hitched to my lovely hubby) by far and one that, through music and friendship, I will never ever forget!

MCR ROCK MY WORLD!