My Chemical Romance at The Fox Theatre - Bakersfield, CA

This past wednesday, May 25th, in Bakersfield, California, a group of the most intense and loyal fans, arguably, on the face of the planet, filled the sold out Fox Theatre. 

 

My Chemical Romance's Gerard Way motions for the crowd to liven up and join him in a sing-a-long.

  

Having arrived late, I unfortunately missed the set of Kansas City, MO band, The Architects. I was quite disappointed with my timing, since I have heard many good things about this band.

Until this night, I have had a sort of silly and biased bitterness toward PA band, Circa Survive. I learned this night in Bakersfield no never assume or hold a band accountable for their fans' actions ever again. Simply, Circa Survive blew me away and out of the water. I'm pretty sure my jaw was literally on the ground in awe 90% of the set, and the other 10% it was jumbled in a sort of whimpering smile. Singer, Anthony Green, hit a chord somewhere deep inside of me that I've only recently discovered. His eyes seemed to look right through me the few times I managed to catch his eye from the 2nd row of the crowd, making me feel both uncomfortable and at ease at the same time. As for the music, his voice is angelic in an unnerving way, how you would imagine a fallen angel to sound after the long journey from heaven to earth. Sounding more like an instrument than a voice, Anthony writhed his way through the set and around the stage, commanding the energy of his band, the crowd, and seemingly of the whole earth with a wave of his hands. As a ringmaster of sorts, this man was very much the most captivating aspect of the band as a whole. 

 

Circa Survive: Anthony looking toward the sky seemingly harnessing the powers of the universe to explode out of his body and back at the crowd.

 After Circa Survive vacated the stage, the crowd's anticipation built incredibly. Not one body in the whole 1500 capacity theatre seemed to be still. Legs were bouncing, girls were fixing their hair and makeup, children were pestering their parents. 


Finally, the house lights retreated and screams that seemed to blast past the theater roof and into deep space erupted from, not just the teen girls in the crowd, but everyone in the whole building. From the minute the band took the stage, My Chemical Romance effortlessly held onto every thread of every human's attention for the entire set. 


Opening with the ever-catchy, always-stuck-in-your-head "Na Na Na", MCR rocketed through an 18 song setlist without really taking even a second to breathe. Fans were pogoing and dancing maniacally, even in the seats, not letting themselves be confined, letting the music take them over. 

The boys in the band were not disappointed, and further encouraged everyone to just let loose. The two bouncy dance songs, "Planetary(GO!)" and "Destroya" brought out the most energy from the fans, as well as the most sweat. The historic theater vibe was temporarily turned into a vibrating electro-night-club feeling, everyone moving in the same ways to the same beats and bonding through and through due to a shared love of this band.

 

Quick clip (shot by me) of the band playing "Summertime".

A very heartfelt moment came when Gerard dedicated "Summertime" to his wife, Mindless Self Indulgence bass player LynZ. The whole crowd seemed to let out a collective lovestruck sigh at the sound of this. Another moment that pulled at my own heart strings was when Gerard stated simply, "Bakersfield, it's alright to be proud of where you're from. But it's also alright to run away and never turn back", launching the band into performing one of my favorite songs "SING", where the climax of the song became a collective cry of assurance to "keep running!".

The band closed out the set with "Bulletproof Heart", and left the crowd pleading for more. As houselights rose again, some fans scattered while some waited around with hopes to catch a guitar pick, drumstick or setlist. Those lucky few let out squeals of satisfaction, throwing their arms in the air with excitement.  If ever you have the chance to catch this band live, whether or not you are a fan at the start, you will certainly be by the end. They bring a belonging to everyone involved, without even trying they just relate to everyone.