My Chemical Romance, Auckland NZ, 2023

My Chemical Romance

11th March 2023
The Outer Fields, Auckland, New Zealand.

Review by Charlotte Lightbody, photography by Doug Peters.

Everyone came out of retirement for this one. And the crowd was a sea of beautiful misfits.

NZ-based indie pop duo Lips opened proceedings with their personal blend of cool low-fi synth sounds with soulful sweetly layered harmonies. Along with the afternoon sun, they brought a belated sense of summer to an Auckland sorely missing one. Steph Brown and Fenn Ikner gently and lovingly warmed the crowd with their New York honed sound.

Next up was the equally female lead Miss June. Punky feminist anthems were layered upon us creating two new fans from newbies to their work, they are sure to get singalong car play in future. The lead singer, Annabel Liddell, delivered a catchy almost slam-poetic style of singing as she thrashed about the stage to tunes like PPD (Post Partem Depression) with those messy blonde locks strewn across her face illustrating the chaotic and personal rants and social commentary of her lyrics.

Next to the stage was Goodnight Nurse, a punk rock, kiwi summer anthem-blasting band, With the darkening of the day, they ushered in a deep sense of nostalgia to the night. Their calm cool attitude and guaranteed singalong jams felt straight out of the 2000s where we’d loved them the first time – classic kiwi vibes as always. They treated the crowd to a bunch of well-known tunes like ‘Our Song’ and ‘My Only’. For the first time, they performed all three parts of their ‘All Hail The Serpent Queen’ on stage live. It leant a certain amount of space rock to their otherwise strictly punk proceedings. The gorgeous sunset went from peach pink to a dark purple, and with it came a rather bitter wind. Goodnight Nurse gave an energetic performance, flashing smiles to the crowd and seemed to be loving every moment of the show. Their excitement for My Chemical Romance palpable in their words, they would be visible later in the show right up front enjoying the heck out of the main event.

The energy in the stadium had been building since doors opened around 3 PM and now the sun had gone, the audience was chanting M.C.R., M.C.R. in anticipation. They roared at the first glimpse of movement as the band members arrived, including lead frontman Gerard Way. Opening with ‘The Foundations of Decay’ (the crowd singing along word for word despite the newness of the track), before diving right into the Platinum Hit ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’. Gerard delivered a hugely energetic performance, in classic punk rock style – every track seems over too quickly, but you’re already head-banging to the next so embrace it you shall.

The stage backdrop featured what seemed to be some sort of post-apocalyptic cityscape of burning skyscrapers, presumably a holdover from their ‘Danger Days’ era. The big screen cameras hung blurrily on the buildings and the many spinning emergency lights that adorned the stage. With Gerard’s looped droning synth and vocal tones casually dotted, they gave eerie anticipation to it all.

Gerard thrashed about the stage in grey skirt suit and tie, delivering growls, shrieks and other guttural throat fare. Despite his assertions, I couldn’t tell whether he was jet-lagged, clearing phlegm or spicing things up for the crowd – whatever it was, we loved it and didn’t really care either way. At one point, the New Jersey frontman mentioned how much he loved the crowd’s outfits, or ‘costumes’, as well as talking up the previous opening acts who came along to play with them. He seemed to genuinely care about the crowd, especially those right up the front as he politely asked everyone to take a few steps back to think about those up against the barricades, following this up with the gesture “Fuckin’ solid New Zealand”. Love that.

Other massive tracks from the setlist included my personal favourite ‘The Ghost of You’, ‘Give Em’ Hell, Kid’, ‘Teenagers’ and ‘Helena’ which I must note, had an amazing crowd participation instrumental sing-a-long from both Gerard and the audience.

The band closed with the encore track ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ which garnered loads of singing, and dancing – I definitely saw some extreme nostalgic moments happening for those in the audience during this last track. Ray Toro shined as always, his profound solos and guitar mastery lending that depth that has always elevated My Chemical Romance well above many in the emo rock space.

What an absolute treat to relive my early 2000’s this weekend with this incredible band, they sounded bloody great, looked awesome, delivered the energy the crowd demanded and the weather played nice for us too. This was one hell of a kick-off to a much-anticipated tour.

My Chemical Romance:

Goodnight Nurse:

Miss June:

Lips:

Were you there at the Outer Fields for this triumphant emo gig? Or have you seen My Chemical Romance perform live somewhere else before? Tell us about it in the comments below!

Setlist:

1. The Foundations of Decay
2. I’m Not Okay (I Promise)
3. Boy Division
4. Give ‘Em Hell, Kid
5. This Is How I Disappear
6. The Ghost of You
7. Our Lady of Sorrows
8. Teenagers
9. Thank You for the Venom
10. DESTROYA
11. Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)
12. Vampire Money
13. Planetary (GO!)
14. Helena
15. Mama
16. Famous Last Words
17. The Kids From Yesterday
18. Welcome to the Black Parade [encore]

_{Note: Ambient Light was provided passes to review and photograph this concert. As always, this has not influenced the review in any way and the opinions expressed are those of Ambient Light’s only. This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase a product using an affiliate link, Ambient Light will automatically receive a small commission at no cost to you.}

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