The Black Parade Is Dead: Live in Mexico City - My Chemical Romance DVD Review
My Chemical Romance
DVD Review
‘Suicide Cult’ My Chemical Romance’s The Black Parade Is Dead! DVD features two live performances, and also a copy of the Mexico City show on cd. The show in Mexico City sees a full performance of the bands 3 million selling album The Black Parade played in its entirety. They open explosively with band vocalist Gerard Way emerging from a hospital bed dubbed with gown and heart monitors. Unfortunately Mcr fail to build on their unconventional start, with the majority of the show seeing them roll off track after track. They’re not bad by any means; ‘Cancer’ remains the crowd favourite amongst the fans whilst ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ sounds even better when played live. The band disappoint by failing to play anything from their first and second albums, although they do later on at their New Jersey show. The stage show is a treat, with the band wearing their now iconic black parade costumes. There is also a nice array of lights an even a confetti explosion which helps keep their fans in good spirits. Looks pretty cool too.
The CD is a carbon copy of the Mexico City DVD. This works quite well as the bands lack of banter that hinders their DVD doesn’t damage their CD. Although effectively just their current album with additional crowd screams, they sound impressive and flawless in their song performances. Its arguably better than the DVD, the songs seem much more enjoyable on cd especially with the DVD bearing nothing but songs throughout.
The DVD in New Jersey is played in a surprisingly small setting that couldn’t hold more than 200 people. This allows you to get a little closer to the band, who run through a variety of hits from their three albums throughout the set. Mcr talk to the crowd much more than their arena show, and the setlist will satisfy both older and new fans. With the small venue, the band cannot have any form of light show but perhaps the biggest issue is the camera mans struggle to get the band in focus. The small venue seems an awful choice to film the band live, clearly not much thought process went into it. The filming results in a very homemade looking production, which is a little disappointing especially from such a big band.
MCR’s DVD set is a great little bargain. Two live shows and one of them on CD for £13-ish seems a great deal. Having two different set lists for the shows is great too, with the size of the shows also working well in creating a unique package. It’s a good package for fans and will also interest music lovers in general, restoring My Chemical Romance with some much needed plaudits since being dubbed a ‘suicide cult’ by the Daily Mail. Well worth a watch.
