WHAT A TEMPER!: A NIGHT WITH MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE

I knew about them, I heard their songs occasionally on the radio and my daughter loved'em. So the time had come to see them up close and live. The opportunity had arrived when they scheduled a stop here in Denver during their World Contamination Tour.

Wikipedia describes them as such:

My Chemical Romance is an American rock band from New Jersey, formed in 2001. The band consists of lead vocalist Gerard Way, guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, and bassist Mikey Way and have a diverse sound incorporating elements of gothic rock, punk, heavy metal, glam rock and metal, and progressive rock.

My Chemical Romance put on a grand show at The Fillmore here in Denver on April 9, 2011 before a very youthful audience. Some older people were in attendance but often times, like me, they were accompanying their children, teens or younger in age. My daughter staked out spot near the front of the line which by the time I arrived snaked completely around the block, the tail end beginning to wrap around a second time. Rather than try to get an up close position before the stage where I would invariably be crushed in the throng of teens, I took the comfortable position right in from of the sound booth located in the middle of the venue. With a fence behind me, there was no worry about people pushing from behind.

Matt Farley writes: Denver was the setting for My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way's 34th birthday party Saturday night. The guest list included the rest of his band, plenty of security and about 4,000 screaming fans.

Way didn't seem to bummed about having to work on his special day. The newly svelte rocker set things off with "Na Na Na," the semi-coherent lead single for MCR's new album "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys" and spent the rest of the night caroming from sci-fi synth pop to doom rock to old punk covers (The Damned got a nice shout-out). No one can accuse MCR of discovering new continents of sound, but for those simply looking for a fun-ass rock show, the New Jersey band delivered the goods in spades.

Openers The Architects rocked their Jersey punk hearts out in spite of their early slot, while middle act Neon Trees showed why they're the indie buzz band to beat this year. They had the crowd eating out of their collective hand long before they got to their Billboard hit "Animal."

Read it all here: http://denver.metromix.com/music/essay_photo_gallery/my-chemical-romance-experiments/2550648/content