The Pixies and My Chemical Romance
August 22, 2025
Roger’s Centre Toronto
Having attended a number of concerts over my lifetime, I’d have to say this one is one of the best, most intricately planned shows I have ever been to.
Streams of millennials dressed in black, with chains hanging from their belts, some in full emo/goth make-up converged on the Rogers Centre, walking past costumed patrons of Fan Expo. knowing that Gerard Way, lead singer of My Chemical Romance is also the creator of several comic books including The Umbrella Academy, one can’t help but think that My Chemical Romance planned their Toronto show to coincide with this event.
On stage, The Pixies (a solid GENX favourite ) blasted out their hits as fans filed into the venue. Formed in 1986 in Boston, Massachusetts, The Pixies are an indie punk rock band who layed the groundwork for the 90’s grunge scene. Their debut album Surfer Rosa (1988) and follow-up album Doolittle (1989) launched them into fame, followed by the release of Bossanova in 1990. As a Pixies fan, it was great to see them touring with My Chemical Romance. Although they seemed like an unusual choice, this was explained later in the show when MCR lead singer Gerard Way told the fans that The Pixies were his favourite band of all time.
In all, The Pixies played a 45 minute set, showcasing their unique sound and musical techniques.Lead guitarist Joey Santiago led by playing the guitar with his baseball cap, and using his guitar patch cord, unplugged from his guitar, to make an instrument on it’s own to enhance the experience.
Up next was headliner My Chemical Romance. The band was formed in 2001 in New Jersey, defining the 2000s emo rock movement. The original Iineup consisted of current lead singer Gerard Way, his brother and current bassist Mikey Way, as well as current guitarists Ray Toro and Frank lero. Although the original lineup included drummer Matt Pelissier, he was later removed from the group. Although the exact reason for his departure is unclear, the rumours are abundant. Pelissier was replaced by Bob Bryer who performed on Black Parade.However Bryer parted ways from the group in 2010, also amidst a cloud of rumours. Bryer had been burned by pyrotechnics during the Black Parade four, and ended up developing an infection that impacted his ability to ever play the drums again. He was replaced by drummer Jarrod Alexander. The band split up in 2013 to pursue independent projects, however reunited a few years later, playing a reunion show in 2019. Although they had planned a reunion tour for 2020, this was postponed until 2022 when they also dropped a new single. MCR was back in full force, which eventually led to the current tour.
In between sets, My Chemical Romance had a number of different messages displayed on venue screens. These messages included Rules including ” Rule 14: Adherence to all rules should be equal to or greater than One’s anticipated allotment of health and safety.” as well as coded messages and advertisements. All ending with the message ” You’ve seen nothing” It appears that all of this relates to the Fictional World Draag created by My Chemical Romance. MCR was preceded on stage by an actual marching band, and the show opened with the National Anthem of Draag. As MCR took to the stage in full military costumes and theatre make-up, highlighting slashes to Way’s face, it quickly became apparent that this was not going to be just a concert, but a full theatrical production. Fans couldn’t have been more excited!
MCR played through their 2006 Album The Black Parade in it’s entirety, in what can only be described as a Rock Opera. With a pyrotechnics show that lit up the stage and extended to the dome, it’s easy to see how band members have previously been burned during their shows. Luckily this was not the case on Friday night. Way was accompanied on stage by The Gentleman, a ventriloquist puppet. Throughout the set, Way was seen reading Vogue magazine. A demented clown with a knife showed up, stabbing Way while other band members were hustled off stage. After pulling back the clown costume to reveal the clown was strapped with explosives, he then blew himself up, thus ending the set.
The band took a break to regroup, as a lengthy violin interlude played on Stage B, set up in the middle of the floor. my Chemical Romance played the second half of their show from Stage B, where fans had an up close and personal experience. MCR played a selection from their extensive catalogue, including I’m Not Okay (I Promise) and Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na). Although the second set was fantastic, nothing will live up to the theatrics in the first half of the show.
Throughout the show it became apparent that MCR fans are in a league of their own, singing along to each song word for word, raising their cell phone lights to the sky, and becoming overtly emotional as their favourite songs were played. It takes a dedicated fan base to show up with this kind of intensity and dedication to decoding the secret messages present throughout the experience.