02/18/2026
I’m still processing how special this weekend was. I first heard My Chemical Romance on MTV in 2004/05 when I was 11-12. The videos for “I’m not okay” and “Helena” had me mesmerized. I was lucky enough to have a dad who took me to see them live multiple times throughout 2005-2007 when I was 12-14. They played side stages (Warped Tour), opening acts (Green Day), and intimate venues (RIP The Trocadero), until making it big, which meant headlining shows of about 10-20k people (the venue formerly known as the Tweeter Center, and the Liacouras Center). I never imagined I’d see them 20 years later sell out multiple nights in a stadium with 65,000 people in a country thousands of miles away from our shared home of New Jersey.
But it turns out us Jersey Italians have a lot in common with the people of Mexico: Catholic religious upbringing, a romantic obsession with death, and the universal human search for connection and meaning. In 2008, the band released the concert film “The Black Parade is Dead,” which they recorded in Mexico City at Palacio de Los Deportes, an arena across the street from Estadio GNP, where they just played. This was meant to be the last time the album would be performed live in its entirety, and that would remain true for the next 18 years. (If you haven’t seen it, it’s on YouTube and it rocks). That was until the “Long Live the Black Parade” tour resurrected the album and storyline in 2025. This time around, it has aged like fine wine, with a production value capable of meeting its full potential, combined with two decades of life experience and wisdom that both contrast and compliment the angst and insecurity of youth. We, the fans fortunate enough to make it to the other side of adulthood, have aged alongside them, while new generations have been born along the way. (Continued in comments)
