My Chemical Romance in Portland

W O W. I don't have a clue as to how else to express to you how freaking incredible that concert was, but I am going to try my very best.

Okay. So lets start with the stage and the whole room it was in. Astounding. Breathtaking. It's called the Crystal Ballroom (tight name, huh?) and it's in downtown Portland, Oregon. Ha ha - which reminds me of how people always say "Keep Portland wierd!", right? Yeah, well all of us in our punky clothes and dark makeup and Black Parade T-shirts and "X"s on our eyes and all that waiting outside the Ballroom got some looks from pedestrians that definantly gauranteed Portland would stay on the wierd-map. You should have seen the people who passed by; just walking all casual and then looking over at the big black truck throwing free Monster energy drinks to the people in line and speeding up their pace. It was pretty funny. Sorry, off-topic. The Crystal Ballroom is amazing. People always say it's haunted (which would be pretty freaking awesome), but I personally don't think I felt any ghosts go through me. I few shivers maybe, knowing that Gerard Way and Frank Iero and all the others were standing less than thirty feet in front of me, but no ghosts. It was a very dramatic, theatrical-looking room, though. There were a few large chandeliers and paintings all over the walls, along with a mural on the half-dome behind the stage. It was really pretty. Gerard thought so too, and he even mentioned that they felt lucky because they don't get to play places like that very often. He he... I feel special ^.^

The crowd was pretty cool too. MCR fans are usually fairly awesome. Waiting for the band to come out after the opening acts, everybody was chanting and all that. Accually, just so you know, the openers were pretty good. Drive By and Billy Talent. Drive by played good music but were'nt much fun on stage, and Billy Talent got a lot of screaming and head-banging going. There were only a few mosh pits and only one big fight where security had to pull someone out. Gerard called us well-behaved. Everyone booed XP. The whole concert I was pretty close to the stage, but not front row or anything. I could see Gerard, Mikey, and Bob mostly the whole time (Frank was kind of shoved in the corner and Ray was right up next to the amps - small stage), until some enormous, like seven-foot tall guy stood smack in front of me. Just my luck, right? Still incredible, though.

And the music. Everybody already knows that was stunning. Frank rocked hard core and Gerard sounded amazing. LOL... once between songs he asked "So how do I sound tonight?". Everyone cheered pretty loud. Then he goes "And how about the band? How do we sound?". They got a little louder. And then he asks, "But more importantly, how the fuck do we look?!?" and everybody screamed like crazy XD. They opened with Sleep and ended with Helena, with most of the Black Parade album inbetween and a few older ones, like Headfirst for Halos, I never Told You What I Do for a Living, and You Know What They Do to Guys Like Us in Prison. My favorite was probably House of Wolves... or I'm Not Okay. Both were crazy-tight. It was so hot in there by the time they got to I'm Not Okay. With everybody jumping and moshing and everything in that tiny little space? I kept stepping on people's feet, because for some reason I can't stay in one place when I hop. My screaming didn't help to lower the body temperature either; I was accually so loud and high-pitched that the poeple in front of me kept cringing and turning to look at me everytime I did. It was hilarious.

Cancer was amazing live. I was suprised security let people past with lighters, but there were a couple in the air during that one (joining all the lit up cell phones, of course). I didn't really get to hear Helena, though. My friend was about to faint from a migraine and asked me to walk her out right after Cancer. Kind of dissapointing, but that's all right. I was sitting in the lobby with her and I could just faintly hear the song upstairs, and I was just staring at the ceiling lip-synching every word while all the parents stared at me 0.o. OH MY GOSH! I haven't said happy birthday to Gerard yet. HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEE! Okay, I'm better now. I bet the show today (second day at the Crystal Ballroom - wish I were there)is crazy. I probably would have gone today if I'd known they were playing a second night earlier.

So, in recapitulation, the show was... I need another synonym for amazing. There isn't one that's good enough. Frankie and Gerard were delicious, Mikey did some serious head-banging, Ray was insane, and Bob's drum panel fell off. Gerard was just about to throw it into the crowd when he turns around and he's like "Wait... can we fix this?" then he turns back to us and goes "We can fix it. That means you don't get it." LOL... I love him. I'm seriously depressed that it's over and that My Chem won't be touring again any time soon, but it was an incredible show and an awesome experience. Love you always, MCR!




P.S. Do you think this post's long enough? ;)