Long live the emo phase of the early 2000s rock era, which elder millennials witnessed when the sacred text of The Black Parade was written. Still, the crowds of My Chemical Romance’s current 20th anniversary tour of the album show up, representing every generation that grew up on their music.
Just ask the audiences from MCR’s three-night, sold-out tour stop at Wembley. “MCR proved that this wasn’t just emo nostalgia without bite; this is genuinely one of the most significant rock bands in modern history that still very much has the power and talent to take on the world by storm,” shared a reporter from Far Out Magazine, who attended the final night. “The emotions in that stadium were genuine and real. There was a woman a few rows down from me who cried the entire show.”
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The nostalgia of the early ’00s rock band from New Jersey and their seminal concept album still brings together O.G. fans and new ones, from its operatic and theatrical timelessness to tracks like “Famous Last Words” and “Teenagers” and the gateway G5 note drop that activated a whole new generation of converts from when the piano notes of “Welcome to the Black Parade” blew up as a TikTok trend. In the time since the album’s 2006 release, lead singer Gerard Way became a prolific comic book writer with works such as The Umbrella Academy(later adapted into a hit Netflix series) and a run as a curator at DC Comics.
The UK shows had so many talked-about moments that went viral online. My Chemical Romance not only performed a no-skips set of The Black Parade, but they also unearthed deep cuts like the rarely performed “Desert Song,” an almost unreleased track from the Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge era. Here’s a clip shared by ellie_h_ways on TikTok:
@ellie_h_wayz desert song, performed with accompaniment by kayleigh goldsworthy and clarice jensen. long live the black , wembley stadium, 11 july 2026. #mcr #mcrlonglive #longlivetheblack #mcrlondon #mcrwembley
♬ original sound – 🇨🇦ellie h. wayz🇨🇦
I attended the show last year in Florida, which marked the last stop of the first stateside leg, and can attest that as an elder emo, I preferred to sit in seats overlooking the massive pit filled with kids experiencing their first MCR show. The band will return to the States this fall to close out the 20th anniversary performances with a Halloween-season final show (or funeral) at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.