The Fans Have Their Say #15 My Chemical Romance: You Say Emo Like It's A Bad Thing?

I've been lucky enough to see My Chemical Romance seven in total.

I came across MCR for the first time when attending the Download Festival at Donington Park motor-racing track in the UK in June 2005. At the time I was starting to put together my book on the Monsters of Rock/Download Festivals and they were on the bill, in the tent on the Friday evening.

From this earlier show, I have gone on to see them headline both Download Festival and the Reading Festival in the UK, supporting Muse at Wembley stadium and the first date on the UK's 'The Black Parade' tour at the Pavilions in my home town of Plymouth.

At each show I have been amazed at the adoration, overcoming adversity during the 'bottling' at Reading Festival and then returning five years later as the all conquering heroes to having the Muse fans in their hand at Wembley.

Like everyone else, I never expected them to reform. Having seen Frank (and interviewed him) in his various solo band guises and Gerard making 'The Umbrella Academy' a huge Netflix success, it was the least expected reformation of recent years and then it was dashed by the arrival of the Coronavirus Pandemic. They had already sold out three stadium shows at the MK Dons football stadium in Milton Keynes and I had tickets for the Eden Sessions at the 'ecologically friendly' outdoor venue in Cornwall at St Austell - this was to be a 'warm-up' and has a capacity of only 6,000 and so is quite intimate.

But here we are again now, moving slowly through 2022, with a new normality in the distance on the horizon. The UK dates have all been rescheduled, with original tickets available for the newly arranged dates, so we all have something to look forward to once again.

Which then brings me to this book. The 15th in the series, covering all the bands that I like and have seen many times. The fans lead the book forward, telling their stories, their experiences and their album preferences and I collate them, add my own stories and thoughts and bring together what I hope to be another successful and popular entry in the series. So, sit back, have a read, look at the photos and most of all -

'Killjoys, Make Some Noise...'