rikibeth

We got on the road with no major bobbles around 1 PM. I had new rear tires on my car, the oil was freshly changed, and I had a new air filter besides. There was a six-pack of fruit punch flavor Gatorade in sport bottles in the back seat, as well as some Red Bull in case I needed it, and we had energy bars too. Both of us were wearing cargo pants and AFI t-shirts (so as not to be That Guy wearing the logo of the band we were going to see) and sturdy boots -- both for not getting our feet crushed in the pit, and for warmth.

eternaleponine very cleverly suggested we bring extra socks to change into once we got there, so we wouldn't have sweat-damp socks evaporating and making our feet colder. Our stuff was distributed among our pockets, so we wouldn't have to wrangle purses in a mosh pit. I had on a plain black hoodie, and

eternaleponine realized that she didn't have any hoodies that she liked that WEREN'T MCR hoodies, so she wore her skeleton track jacket and brought a knit hat. I had a fleece earband to wear under my hood, and we both had our winter jackets and gloves, and I had my Ravenclaw scarf. Our overnight things were in backpacks, and we EACH had our iPods -- hers fully charged, mine half charged, but available in case hers ran out. Earplugs, directions, and tickets, too.

We had planned to bring a blanket as well. It got as far as the front hall, but didn't make it into the car. We realized this around Rocky Hill. I didn't want to go back, so we stopped at the Wal-Mart in Cromwell (yes, I avoid shopping there whenever possible, but this was under duress) and found a black double-sized comforter on clearance for $15. Yay! Back on the road.

Midafternoon is a VERY good time to be driving the Merritt Parkway and the Whitestone Bridge to the Cross Island Parkway to the LIE. No evil parking lots happened.

We got to the Coliseum around 3:30, and made the sensible stops for bathroom, food (Dunkin Donuts egg and cheese sandwich for

eternaleponine, Subway turkey-and-cheese for me), and gas for the car -- the tank was not empty, but we were heading to my parents' in New Jersey afterwards, and I wasn't sure how much gas that would use, and I did NOT want to find myself driving on unfamiliar roads nearing empty and needing to find a gas station, so I figured a full tank was best. That done, we hit the parking lot. There were no attendants at the gates. I don't know if they had decided not to charge for parking at all for the concert, or if we just got there before the parking attendants did, but in any case we didn't have to pay.

At 4 PM, with below-freezing temperatures and a serious wind chill, there was already a significant, although not enormous line. I parked right near where the end of the line was, so that we could take turns going to sit in the car out of the wind when it got too much for us. And we were bundled up! What a change from Warped Tour in the summer, where the concern was staying hydrated and not getting heat stroke. And, just as in the summer there were a few foolish children all gothed out in heavy pants and long sleeves and layers, here there were foolish children in not enough clothing for the line. I could sympathize, because certainly once we got inside in the pit too much clothing would be a problem, and they didn't all have the option WE used, which was wear all the layers to wait and then dump it all in the car right before doors opened, but, wow, way to court hypothermia. I had no idea how the boys in just T-shirts were doing it.

Still, it was a very low-key, congenial line, and the groups of kids (college-age) next to us were all very pleasant. I moved the car once when the line condensed so it'd still be right there across from us for dumping of stuff.

At 7 PM the doors opened. We'd been hoping for 6:30 because of the cold -- seriously, despite two pairs of socks, we weren't feeling our feet too much -- but no such luck. Quick wanding and pat-down -- they supposedly weren't allowing cameras in, or metal-adorned clothing, but they were NOT very thorough -- and taking our tickets, and then down the ramps to the floor entrance and wristbanding. Some kids ran past us. We were not ABLE to run because of how stiff our feet were from cold. They put our wristbands on very loosely.

eternaleponine's was in danger of sliding off over her hand.

We cut to the left side of the stage, and were probably about five or six deep from the barricade. As usual, we were stuck behind the one damn Really Tall Guy in the place. One who had his arms around his very short girl the whole time (honey, if you can't handle it yourself, stay out of the pit) and kept making out with her, too. GET A ROOM! Bleah.

First thing I noticed was that the filler music beforehand was the same as it was in November, which means it was MCR's choice of music, not some random sound guy at the venue. I appreciated some of the choices a lot -- Bowie's "Five Years" (the opening track of Ziggy Stardust), Jim Carroll's "People Who Died," "Oliver's Army" by Elvis Costello, the Ramones cover of "What A Wonderful World." Good stuff, and a nice acknowledgement of some of their influences.

Rise Against! was the opening band. I found them a somewhat odd choice, as they're an old-fashioned, political, anarchist, activist type of punk band out of Chicago, all scruffy sincerity and crunchy chords. I'm sure MCR appreciates their music. I do too, for certain moods. It's just not quite the same mood as the one for MCR's glorious over-the-top glam angst and melodrama. The audience seemed to be having a good time, although it felt as if at least half of them didn't know what to make of them. The other half were moshing and pogoing up a storm, though. I found it best to pogo in sync with the girl next to me, just so I'd minimize the jostling.

There was a LOT of that. Everyone was just crushing forward and LEANING a hell of a lot. I was seriously worried that I was going to lose my footing and get trampled. The crowd wasn't all elbows and shrieking the way it was during Say Anything in November... but I was a lot more squashed. Maybe it was just placement. But I was a lot less comfortable.

Rise Against! played a set JUST long enough to keep me from getting to the "Bored now" stage. I only knew one of their songs well enough to sing along -- the one that had been on the Rock Against Bush comp. A lot of the audience knew that one.

The crushing didn't let up as much as I would have liked during the break between bands. Also, because I remembered the filler music, I was waiting and hoping for a moment I'd had in November. In November, when Green Day's "Basket Case" played, the entire audience (as far as I could tell) sang along, loudly, and it was as if I could feel them knit into one organism, me included, saying "yes, this is us. We are not too cool to admit we love Green Day, and this song, with its cheerful admission of being all messed up, is What We Are, and we are all here together." Well, the song played, but the moment didn't happen. Some people sang along, but I could still hear way too much chatter and commentary, and maybe it was just the acoustics of a huge arena space instead of a small theater, but it wasn't that sound of the whole audience responding as one. I was disappointed. At least I knew that when they played it, it wasn't too long until they'd be taking the stage... all I had to wait for was "Another Brick In The Wall, part 2."

November had been a small venue, with a bare stage, and no costumes. This was the full deal. The monitor beeps from the beginning of the album sounded, and they wheeled a gurney out in front of the curtain, pulled back the sheet, and there was Gerard, heavily made up and wrapped in a hopsital gown, singing "The End." As the song went on, he stood up off the gurney, the gown came off to reveal his Black Parade uniform, and as it finished, they pulled back the curtain, and there was the huge stage set, and the band in all their costumes, ripping into "Dead!"

Cut to the chase: they did the whole album, in sequence, just as I had hoped they might when I first listened to it streaming on the Web, before the release date or even the listening party. The only deviations were a break for "Happy Birthday" to Gerard and Mikey's dad, "Handsome Don," right before "Welcome To The Black Parade," and stopping right before the Liza Minelli part in "Mama" to bring up the lights and make sure that someone who'd fallen in the pit was all right. Gerard reminded the audience to look out for each other, and then moved back into the song.

Of course everyone sang along. And of course we all jumped when Gerard said jump, and put our hands in the air when he said to, and all of that. It was a grand spectacle of a concert. And we got moved by the crowd crush to damn near center stage, and probably only about four people away from the barricade. But somehow, for me, it wasn't the transcedent experience of November, where it felt as if the audience was one creature, all under Gerard's control, and all responding to his every move. He HAD most of the same stage moves that he did then -- complete with the ironic crotch-grabs and fuck-the-microphone that

matociquala talks about in David Bowie's stage performance. Gerard has learned at Bowie's feet, it looks like, and he has it down.

Maybe the bare stage and no costumes in November made it more immediate and real to me. Maybe it was the difference between a mere month after the album's release and the time it took to mount the full tour. Maybe it was just that in November, I got shoved to a part of the crowd where I really couldn't be shoved at all any more, and I felt secure, and last night I was constantly on alert to just keep my feet. I'm guessing it's that last, because in November,

eternaleponine was getting constantly shoved, and she came out of the show shaking and very nearly in shock, and NOT with the transcedent concert high that I had then... and last night, SHE hit a point in the crowd where she couldn't be further moved, and SHE came out saying "Now that's how it should have been!" So I guess it all worked out.

Anyway, when they finished "Famous Last Words," Gerard said, "Thank you very much, we are The Black Parade, My Chemical Romance will be out next." They pulled the curtain, and played "Blood" on the sound system -- the bonus track from the CD. When they pulled it open again, there they were in everyday clothes, in front of the circle-of-guns "Revenge" banner from the LAST tour, blasting into "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)." Besides changing out of his uniform, Mikey had changed out of his gorgeous boots into adorable Misfits Dravens. Gerard had even switched from a cordless to a corded mike!

They played... I think eight songs from "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge," finishing up, of course, with "Helena," with its "so long and good night." The heartfelt speech he used to introduce "Teenagers" in November -- the one about "they say we're an emo death cult, and you know that's not true, you're going to take a lot of shit from people for being different, but don't let that stop you being who you are" -- that had been edited down and polished and moved to near the end of the "Revenge" set. It still gave the audience joy, but it wasn't as powerful for me... probably just because I'd heard it before. I was glad he said it, though.

I know a couple of members of the audience were disappointed that there wasn't anything from the first album, because they kept yelling out for "Vampires Will Never Hurt You" and "Headfirst for Halos" (and I heard one call for "Honey, This Mirror Isn't Big Enough For The Both Of Us") but even though I would have liked hearing "Headfirst for Halos" I didn't think it was a bad artistic choice to stick with the Revenge songs.

Tonight I'm going to stand at the BACK of the pit -- not only for my own comfort, but out of concern for

melovechocolate's safety. There's no WAY she could handle that level of crush.

We'll see what I think of the show after that.

In all, though, I stand by what I said earlier: this is truly a historic album, and a historic tour, and you DO NOT want to miss it. Get yourself the tickets and get yourself to this show. In ten years, you'll be sorry if you haven't.