Long Live The Black Parade: My Chemical Romance In Toronto, ON

My Chemical Romance. Photo credit: Lindsey Byrnes.

My Chemical Romance’s Long Live the Black Parade tour rolled into Toronto’s Rogers Centre on Friday night with the kind of spectacle only they could deliver. For fans who have been waiting more than a decade to see them again, this wasn’t just a reunion. It was a full-blown production that blended a theatrical storyline, fan participation, and every ounce of energy the band had to give.

I’ve been a fan since I blind-bought I Brought You My Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love at HMV as a teenager. I didn’t even fully understand it at first, but I held onto it, and soon My Chemical Romance became everything. When “Helena” hit, it also became one of my mom’s favourite songs, and the two of us bonded over the band. At Rogers Centre, I could see the same thing happening everywhere — families, kids, older fans who were there from the start, all dressed up in their best MCR gear. The age range proved the point: this is a band that spans generations.

Their story arc is just as important as their music. They went from selling out Calgary’s Saddledome in their prime, to playing the smaller MacEwan Hall during the Danger Days era, when the world wasn’t fully on board with their neon apocalyptic universe. That era still had hits like “Sing” and a comic-book world that loyal fans loved, but commercially it wasn’t their peak. Seeing them now, back in an arena, felt monumental. They stood the test of time and came back stronger.

The show didn’t just start with the music. Fans were handed mustard-yellow and drab-blue cards at the entrance, each marked with strange symbols and the words “chicken” and “fish.” It was part of a larger story the band built with lettering artist Nate Piekos, who created a fictional language called Keposhka for the tour. The lore centers on a dystopian country called Draag, ruled by a dictator. In this world, MCR are forced to perform The Black Parade each night as propaganda. It set the stage for the entire concert.

Inside the stadium, the atmosphere was cold and eerie before the band appeared. Blue lights bathed the stage, which was built from concrete blocks covered in propaganda slogans flashing across screens like “Never abstain from an orderly line” and “Avoid all areas where neutrality is enforced.” Then the voice of the dictator came over the screen, followed by an operatic national anthem sung by a woman in a red dress: “the fire in our hearts that burn true under wheels of might.” When the last note rang out, My Chemical Romance took their positions onstage and launched into “The End.”

Photo credit: Lindsey Byrnes.

From there, The Black Parade played front to back. The songs are strong enough that the band could’ve stood still and played them straight, and it still would’ve been unforgettable. But this was a full performance. After “Dead!,” Gerard Way greeted the crowd with, “Lovely to see you here at the place where you live. We’re My Chemical Romance.” The line fit the dictatorship theme — as if they were acknowledging us while being forced to go through the motions.

When “Welcome to the Black Parade” started, the arena shook. Gerard climbed onto a podium and sang like a dictator at a rally, flashes of revolt revealing itself throughout the show from the scratches on Gerard’s face to fist raised as the crowd screamed every word. Thousands of fans cried while singing, and the energy in the room didn’t let up for the entire song.

The cards we were given upon entering came into play halfway through the album. Gerard announced that the crowd would vote in an election: chicken or fish. Prisoners were marched across the stage, and we were asked to hold up our cards - a fan favourite moment of the tour so far. It didn’t matter which option won. The prisoners were executed by fake gunfire regardless, and Gerard laughed as the crowd chanted “kill them!” It was dark and absurd, but it tied the whole theme together — the illusion of choice under a dictatorship. Immediately after, the band shifted gears into “I Don’t Love You,” and the stadium lit up with cell phone flashlights like twinkling stars. Only MCR could swing from a staged execution to a singalong ballad without missing a beat.

The night’s most chaotic stretch came with “Mama.” Gerard shed his jacket, performing in suspenders while holding a doll he called “The Gentleman.” Fans debated what it meant — maybe a callback to the dummy from the Bullets album booklet, maybe a stand-in for Gerard himself as a child. During the performance, Gerard sang an extra verse about a dagger, foreshadowing what would come later in the night.

Then, the woman who sang the national anthem — introduced as Marianne — returned to sing Liza Minnelli’s part of the standout track from Black Parade. Gerard joked about her being blind, shouting, “We’re over here, Marianne!” but then saying that when she sings, she can see. It was one of those strange moments that fans will spend months dissecting. Gerard then sat down with The Gentleman and started reading a copy of Vogue with Anne Hathaway on the cover as the band began “Sleep.” No explanation, just pure chaos, but the kind of chaos that makes MCR shows legendary and memorable.

“Famous Last Words” cranked the energy back up, complete with massive pyrotechnics and a man literally running across the stage on fire. It was both spectacle and a possible nod to the band members being injured during the filming of the “Famous Last Words” music video. Then a clown figure appeared — some fans speculating that he represented Gerard in the future as he confronts the things he has been complicit in under the rulership of Draag — and stabbed Gerard during the reprise of “The End.” The clown then blew himself up during “Blood,” leaving the audience in total shock.

My Chemical Romance. Photo credit: Lindsey Byrnes.

Instead of immediately ending, the stage cleared for cellist Clarice Jensen. She played a mournful solo while confetti and ash rained down from the rafters, a sign that the metaphorical war was over and the theatrical show had come to an end. In the pit, people stopped moving and just stared upward as the ash fell. It was one of the most powerful visuals I’ve ever seen at a show, forcing the audience to actually sit in silence after the chaos we had just witnessed. The feeling reminded me of the first time I saw Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge!. That same mix of devastation and beauty, where the curtain closes and you’re left gutted but unable to look away.

When the band came back after the interlude, the storyline was over. They returned as themselves, opening with “Boy Division” from Conventional Weapons, a project that was primarily scrapped as My Chemical Romance soon disbanded. Then came a run of Danger Days songs: “Sing,” “Summertime,” and “Planetary (Go).” The crowd’s reaction to these songs proved how much the album’s reputation has grown. Gerard even said, “Back then no one wanted to dance to these songs,” as the arena jumped along. For longtime fans, it felt like a full-circle moment of appreciation for a record that once got overlooked, despite fan complaints online that they wished they’d heard older material throughout the set, specifically from their first album, as this was the first tour date that contained none.

Between songs, Gerard slipped up and teased the possibility of new music. “We’re back in the studio—oops, what was that? I’m just a computer man,” he said, before breaking into robot moves. The joke didn’t hide the fact that something might be brewing.

Finally, the band closed with “Helena.” The emotion in the crowd was overwhelming. People hugged, cried, and shouted every word back. When Gerard sang, “So long and goodnight,” it was impossible not to feel the weight of those words. The band left the stage, and thousands of fans were left in that familiar post-show haze, already wondering how soon they could relive the experience again.

The Long Live the Black Parade tour isn’t just a greatest-hits set or a nostalgia cash-in. It’s a reminder that My Chemical Romance are still one of the most creative live bands in the world. They could have easily played The Black Parade straight and let the songs carry themselves, but instead they built an entire dystopian storyline around it, complete with executions, satire, pyrotechnics, and haunting visuals. It was unpredictable, exhausting, hilarious, and emotional all at once.

For a band that once had to downsize to smaller venues, this Toronto show proved that their legacy hasn’t just endured — it’s stronger than ever. My Chemical Romance have returned to arenas on their own terms, with a production that only they could dream up. As the ash settled on Rogers Centre, one thing was clear: this wasn’t just a concert. It was My Chemical Romance reminding the world exactly why they’re still here.

My Chemical Romance. Photo credit: Lindsey Byrnes.