by Jan Tan (H2B), Stallion writer

Who walks among the famous living dead?

As the first chord was struck, more than 30,000 voices joined forces to welcome the five on stage.

And if your heart stops beating…

Yes, My Chemical Romance for the first time ever comes to Manila! This Grammy award-nominated band filled the Fort to the brim with screaming fans on the 25^th of January, even to the point that, despite the 30,000 already seating inside the audience area, several hundreds more sat outside, trying to catch even just a glimpse of the quintet.

We’ll let the fires just bathe us…

The band played songs from their two albums “Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge” and the more recent “The Black Parade”. The crowd sang along with gusto, voices streaming through the night, with songs like “Welcome to the Black Parade” and “Helena”. The band was dynamite.

Maybe they’ll leave you alone, but not me…

Of particular explosiveness was their lead vocalist, Gerard Way. All females, and even some males, at one point shouted “MARRY ME GERARD!!!” Throughout the concert, Way was the virtual puppeteer of the audience. At the smallest gesture, he could send the audience screaming at the top of their lungs for more, more, more!

I’m shocked at what you’re capable of…

My Chemical Romance even had a surprise up their sleeve for the Philippines: a brand-new song! In a pause between two songs, they announced that they were to play a new song never heard before, not because it wasn’t, according to Way, “totally…awesome, but because there was just no space left.” And so they played the song, “Kill All Your Friends”, much to the delight of the Filipino audience.

We’ll carry on, we’ll carry on…

At around 10:30, Gerard Way uttered the word dreaded by all fans: “goodnight”. As the entire band left the stage, they left the pianist to play alone, a lone spotlight upon him. All eyes were drawn to him as he played a slow, haunting song. Everything was silent save for the piano.

Now I know…

The lights once again flared, fireworks blew out and My Chemical Romance was back on stage! The crowd went wild! The audience belted out “Famous Last Words” at the top of their lungs, voices proclaiming to the world: My Chemical Romance is live in the Philippines!

Honey if you stay, I’ll be forgiven. Nothing you can say can stop me going home

Alas, all things must come to an end, and as the song played out, the concert came to a close. My Chemical Romance left the stage to the dismay of the audience, who joined together in a chant of “WE WANT MORE” but even this was not enough. Thus did the concert end, and thus did a spectacular night of rock end.

So long and goodnight, so long and goodnight…