“The Black Parade” marched through Los Angeles over the weekend, as My Chemical Romance played back-to-back shows at Dodger Stadium on July 26-27.
The shows come as part of the alternative emo rock group’s “Long Live the Black Parade Tour” — the band’s first stadium trek where it plays its era-defining 2006 album in its entirety.
The Dodger Stadium setlist included the full record followed by hits from the band’s other releases, covers and a never-before-heard song.
The group’s performance of “Black Parade” was a full-on theatrical production. To the beat of a militaristic drum, with actors depicting despots and soldiers, the band took the stage donned in black marching band uniforms evoking the album’s original concept art.
An energetic crowd swayed, sang and moshed along to the iconic 14 tracks while cheering along front man Gerard Way, who played the part of the album’s protagonist in a redemptive and fatalistic arc.
After fireworks, a wardrobe change and a cello interlude, the band took a second stage in the middle of the crowd for an additional set.
The song selection varied from Saturday to Sunday night, but both included cuts off of “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge” and “Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys.”
On Saturday, the band also debuted an unreleased single titled “War Beneath the Rain," a powerful rock ballad about memory and fate.
Fittingly, Way dedicated the debut performance to Doug McKean, an audio-engineer who collaborated with My Chemical Romance on the song and also worked on “Black Parade.” McKean died of a brain hemorrhage in 2022.
Way introduced the song saying, “I don’t remember how long ago it was, but before the band broke up, we had a studio in North Hollywood and we were making a record that never came out. This was one of the songs we really loved from it. It was just us in the studio with our friend Doug McKean. He was there recording it. His family’s here tonight. I want this to go out to them.”
“War Beneath the Rain” marks My Chemical Romance’s second unveiling of new music since the band reunited in 2019.
In 2022, the band released “The Foundations of Decay,” marking their first single in nearly a decade.
It’s yet to be determined whether “War Beneath the Rain” will receive a studio release, or whether the band will showcase more unreleased tracks along the tour. However, fans at Dodger Stadium were quick to capture the song and share videos of the performance across social media.
Next, My Chemical Romance heads to Arlington, TX on August 2 before touring up and down the east coast through September.
The tour then takes a pause until the band heads to Latin America in 2026, with dates lined up in Santiago, Chile, and Mexico City, Mexico.
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