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MCR leads Jakarta in a parade of bright lights
The emo kids were out in droves
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T
he emo kids were out in droves. Almost all wearing black T-shirts and skinny jeans, with nearly identical haircuts and the same "my heart is bleeding and bursting with pain, but how does my hair look?" expression on their faces.
Every inch of the Jakarta Convention Center's Plenary Hall on the last night of the first month of the year was slowly but surely engulfed by this wave of angst-filled monochrome-clad adolescents.
There was a good reason for this seemingly cultish fervor: My Chemical Romance (MCR) was going to take the stage. This New Jersey-formed band that currently features a line-up of Gerard Way (vocals), his brother Mikey Way (bass guitar), Ray Toro (guitar), Frank Lero (guitar) and Bob Bryar (drums) could easily be called the most prominent act to fall under the media-created genre label of "emo" or "pop-punk", although there have been long-standing debates about the accuracy of that branding.
Gerard Way once said in an interview that My Chemical Romance was just another rock band.
Based on the magnificently grand performance they gave Thursday evening, one would be inclined to say he was partially right, except for one thing: they are not any old rock band. They are a truly excellent and versatile rock band that can traverse every corner of that very broad definition with the kind of ease and grace we've seen only in the greatest live rock bands in history.
For instance, I'm Not Okay (I Promise), the first single off their major label debut Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge, could easily enough be tossed into the "emo" box, but what about the very Queen-esque Black Parade? Or the Kurt Weill-influenced Mama? Or even the Van Halen-esque old-school stadium rocker Teenagers?
The fact that they have a mostly emo fan-base seems to be caused by the dark tint that MCR seems to add to everything they do -- from their lyrics to their semi-Gothic appearance. However, their entire body of work makes it very obvious that to label these guys as simply "emo" would be lazy and stupid.
Regardless of the genre squabbling, these guys came to Jakarta to face the highest of expectations from their fans, and judging from the air of excitement and sheer pleasure emanating throughout the auditorium, those expectations were met and then some.
These Jersey boys stormed on-stage accompanied by a thunderous assault of drums and proceeded to dive in to their first song gracefully as the crowd roared, screamed and raved at every decibel humanly possible. This was the mood that they magically maintained throughout their roughly 80-minute show.
Their set list consisted of songs from all their albums including their first indie release, I Brought You Bullets, You Brought Me Your Love, on Eyeball Records in 2002, as well as a few B-sides and some new material.
The many strong moments of the performance included a hugely crowd-pleasing and playful rendition of Mama, where Gerard Way seemed to be channeling the spirit of a long deceased 1930's German cabaret singer in the way he nimbly moved around the stage and dramatically belted out the lyrics, and Teenagers, where the band called out a member of their stage crew to come out and play harmonica on the song.
"We've never played this song with harmonica before, so this should be cool," Gerard enthused; this was after he had given a short speech thanking the crew for supporting them throughout their long and extensive world tour.
The crowd managed to get even more excited when the band performed the hit single Black Parade accompanied by an impressive display of lights and smoke, and Gerard guiding the audience through the song like a grimly overzealous majorette.
The crowd followed his lead throughout the show, singing along loudly with nearly every song, louder than the band themselves on a few songs. This near religious zeal was most palpable during the song Helena, where the entire audience chanted every sentence of the song with a kind of emotional power rarely seen outside an evangelical church.
A two-song encore and the show wrapped with the audience refusing to believe it was over and unwilling to leave until the house lights came on.
The band delivered what could easily be said to be one of the best rock concerts Jakarta has seen in a long while. And if the crowd's reaction said anything, it was that My Chemical Romance is welcome to drop by again anytime.
