MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE plus THE BLACKOUT and LOSTALONE

Friday February 18th 2011
MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE plus THE BLACKOUT and LOSTALONE
MEN Arena

Finally I get time to sit down with a cup of tea!  I'm thinking perhaps I'm too old for this lark ... but then I have just attended 4 gigs in 8 nights and written this blog on the nights inbetween.  A parcel delivery lady woke me up at 10:45 this morning ... how rude, I was hoping to have a lie in!  I had to go to the door in my dressing gown ... I didn't even know there was a door in my dressing gown!

(Sorry but it had to be done)

Back in Manchester, but we were at the MEN this time and had a perfectly pleasant journey - possibly due to the fact there were no boys with us this time.  It was just me and my trusty cameraperson - you can see her work here >>Aimee's Videography

We got to the venue at around 7:15pm thinking we had plenty of time, but when we got inside Lostalone were already on.  I don't think we'd missed much though.  I remembered my earplugs but tried different ones this time as the others blocked too much of the music out.  The new ones are much better, even though I feel like I've still got them in.

We were sitting for this one - in fact I never buy standing tickets at the MEN as its just too big.  We were in block 102 which is side on but level with the stage so we had a great view.  We are in this block for Blink 182 later in the year and we have end of row seats closer to the front so that should be brilliant.

Lostalone are a rock band from Derby who reminded me a little bit of Journey, although Aimee disagreed with me, for a change!  We saw them supporting 30 Seconds to Mars last year and they were pretty good.  Very chatty, which I like, and did manage to get parts of the crowd moving.

The Blackout were next who are one of our favourite bands.  We saw them last year supporting You Me At Six and will be seeing them in April when they headline their own tour.  They are from Merthyr Tydfil in Wales and formed in 2003. 

Sean Smith, the blond shouty one, was sporting an interesting Jedward style hairdo, but no-one cared.  They are the most energetic band I have ever seen, both singers were jumping around all over the stage - made me tired just watching them.

Its not all that often that the crowdsurfers start during the support band's set but there were a few going for it early.  There were also a couple of mini mosh pits going on, but they only had 3 or 4 people in them so they weren't that impressive from row V.

I lost count of how many semi-conscious girls were pulled from the audience ... a couple of them had to be carried away.  It was a bit of a crush down there, with massive swirls of people being pushed in all directions.  I was so glad I was watching it from above.

They got the whole crowd jumping and singing and did a brief rendition of 'Whip My Hair Back and Forth' by Willow - not quite sure how you whip Jedward hair but he certainly gave it a go.
Overall a pretty fantastic set - looking forward to April already.

During the interval a big black curtain was erected at the front of the stage, which we could see behind, and several attempts were made to get a Mexican wave started ... all of which failed.

Still photos from various videos were displayed on a huge screen on the left of the stage, and every time an image of an MCR band member was shown, hundreds of girls screamed.  More of the audience members were pulled to safety and that was before they even emerged!  The 2 girls standing next to me were practically hyperventilating and had no voices left for singing as they'd been screaming so much.

The band are from New Jersey and formed in 2001 - about a week after the September 11 attacks.  Gerard Way is very pretty and doesn't look his age at all (he's 33).  Loving the red hair, but I did wonder if he had just sprayed it on before the show as his neck got a bit red as he got more sweaty.  Still gorgeous though.

Gerard gave us the quote of the night when he said 'Thank you for loving us ... cos you do ... YOU LOVE US!'  More screaming ensued.  He was quite concerned about people getting crushed in the audience and made sure to tell everyone to watch out for each other - how lovely.

He also did a bit of a cover version for us which was very lovely - I don't know if he does the same one every night or if he did this because we were in Manchester but he did a few lines of 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now' by The Smiths, which he then followed up with Money.  My favourite bit was when he asked everyone to light up the arena ... and that they did.  Cameras, phones and lighters came on all around and it was beautiful.  Even the 3 inflated condoms which were floating over the crowd couldn't spoil it.

Gerard reckons I'm pretty cool too.  Well obviously he wasn't able to single me out but he is the first person I ever remember who thanked the parents for coming out with their kids, queueing up and waiting around.  He said we all must be very cool to have kids going to an MCR gig ... so there you have it, definitive proof.  Thank you Gerard, you're pretty darned cool yourself for dedicating 'Kids From Yesterday' to me.

I got a bit teary eyed when he sang 'Cancer' - especially '..cause the hardest part of this is leaving you..' oh I was a jibbering wreck.  I was glad it was dark so nobody could see me wiping my eyes with my sleeve.

A fantastic show, thankful bands and an extremely appreciative audience always makes for a great night.  We got home at midnight which is pretty standard and my hearing is still almost intact.

Our next gig, and our last one for this month, is at The Sugarmill, Stoke on Wednesday evening and I finally get to see We Are The Ocean ... hoorah!  Both my offspring will be accompanying me to the venue, and then once we arrive will no doubt depart and leave me standing at the back on my own.  They both have friends going and it is half term so I don't expect too much.  Besides, with a bit of luck, the handsome young man I got chatting to at the Young Guns gig last November might be there for this one too!  Fingers crossed.

TTFN x