The Black Parade World Tour

The Black Parade World Tour was a concert tour by American rock band My Chemical Romance in support of their third studio album, The Black Parade (2006). The tour began on February 22, 2007, in Manchester, New Hampshire and concluded on May 9, 2008, in New York City. 133 shows were a part of the tour, with locations spanning across five different continents, ranging from cities such as the aforementioned New York City to Buenos Aires and Moscow.

For most of the tour, My Chemical Romance would play The Black Parade in its entirety dressed up as an alter-ego marching band named after the album. After playing the album in its entirety, the band would then play a selection of songs from their previous albums. These shows saw extensive use of theatrics and additional stage elements, such as pyrotechnics and blimps that would rise over the stage. Shows throughout the tour would follow this format until October 7, 2007, when the "Black Parade" persona was "killed off" in Mexico City. After that point, the band would no longer play the album in its entirety, but would continue to support it through other shows with more varied set lists.

The tour received positive reviews from journalists, who highlighted the theatrical elements of the shows as well as the performances of the band, specifically front man Gerard Way. According to the Billboard Boxscore, the tour generated an average of $183,600 in revenue per show, with an average of 5,415 tickets sold per date. The October 7 show was later released as the live album The Black Parade Is Dead! in 2008. In 2021, Kerrang! ranked it as one of the best concert tours of all time. A second concert tour themed around The Black Parade, Long Live The Black Parade, is set to begin and take place throughout 2025.

My Chemical Romance released their third studio album, The Black Parade, on October 23, 2006, through Reprise Records.^[1] A concept album, it centers around a man dying from cancer, known as "the Patient", who reflects upon his life as he nears his death,^[2] which is presented to him in the form of his fondest childhood memory: seeing a marching band.^[3] This also led to the creation of an alter-ego band named after the album, simply titled "The Black Parade".^[4] To promote the album, My Chemical Romance would perform around 60 standalone shows throughout 2006.^[5]

On December 18, 2006, My Chemical Romance announced the first leg of the Black Parade World Tour, consisting 17 dates at stadiums throughout the United States.^[6] Around the same time, a set of dates for the United Kingdom were announced.^[7] A second leg with 18 more dates was announced on February 1, 2007, with all set in the United States except for one show in Vancouver.^[8] Shortly afterwards, 7 stops at Canadian cities were announced.^[9] The tour continued to announce more, and it formally began on February 22 in Manchester, New Hampshire.^[6] The European leg of the tour started on March 20, and by May they were back in the United States for a second North American leg.^[10] They then went to Europe again shortly afterwards.^[11] The band then went to Mexico in October to play a show,^[12] went back to their home state of New Jersey,^[12] and then returned to Europe in November.^[12]

On October 7, 2007, My Chemical Romance "killed off" the "Black Parade" persona at their performance at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City.^[12] While the tour continued beyond this point until the aforementioned performance at the Madison Square Garden, the band would no longer perform as "The Black Parade", nor would they play the album in its entirety.^[12] This date was the initial planned conclusion of the whole tour, although with the continued commercial success of The Black Parade, which by then had become a cultural phenomenon, the band felt that they had to continue playing.^[13] The continuation of the tour was also connected to frontman Gerard Way's desire to play a "dream show" at the Madison Square Garden.^[13] The performance in Mexico City was recorded and released as the live album The Black Parade Is Dead! in 2008.^[14]

The band continued on with the tour in December 2007 with a series of dates of Australia, New Zealand, and Asia.^[12] The band then kept up with the tour throughout 2008, with January bringing them back to Asia, February bringing the band to South America, and March taking them back to Europe once more.^[12] In April, the band returned to the United States for the final leg of the tour,^[12] which concluded on May 9, 2008, with their performance at the Madison Square Garden.^[5] By the end of the tour, the band had played about 133 shows within 400 days across the world,^[15] ranging from cities such as Buenos Aires to Moscow,^[5] though some of these dates were cancelled.^[16]

Throughout the course of the tour, the band suffered extreme burnout and sustained several injuries and illnesses. These ranged from depression to food poisoning.^[13] Consequentially, some members had to be hospitalized and two tour dates were cancelled.^[16] On January 11, 2007, Frank Iero temporarily left the tour because of an unspecified illness, being replaced by Drive By guitarist Todd Price.^[17] Drummer Bob Bryar sustained wrist injuries at one point which evolved into carpal tunnel syndrome.^[13] Additionally, bassist Mikey Way took time off to get married and spend time with his new wife, Alicia Simmons, and was replaced by guitar tech Matt Cortez from April 18, 2007, until October 4, 2007.^[18]

The Black Parade World Tour was noted for its "theatrical"-styled production.^[19] When conceptualizing the tour and its set design, Gerard Way felt the need to make The Black Parade everything that he imagined it could be, and that if the band worked hard on creating the album, they were going to ensure a "special" experience when playing it live.^[20] The band also felt that if they were asking fans to go to shows set in arenas, then they owed them a large-scale performance.^[21] To focus on this element behind the tour, the band was generally less energetic and chaotic while on stage in comparison to previous tours.^[20]

Almost every idea that the band had for the tours production was utilized;^[21] the stage elements reportedly required seven trucks to move around from show to show, in addition to four buses needed to transport the band itself as well as the production crew.^[21] The elaborate stage design for the shows was largely reminiscent of the city skyline present in the background of the music video for "Welcome to the Black Parade".^[22] Pyrotechnics saw extensive use as well, going off during certain songs.^[23] At one point in the show, black and white blimps would emerge from each side of the stage and float above the crowd.^[23] The band's "Black Parade" uniforms were designed by Colleen Atwood.^[24]

Each night of the Black Parade World Tour would begin with Gerard Way being wheeled onto the stage via gurney dressed up as "The Patient", before singing the opening lines of the album's opening song "The End."^[22] From there, the song would fully begin and Gerard Way would formally introduce the band's "Black Parade" persona.^[22][4] The band would then play through The Black Parade in its entirety.^[22][4] After about sixty minutes of playing,^[25] the concert would reach the final song on the album, "Famous Last Words", where sparks would engulf the stage^[4] and the band would leave for a brief intermission.^[23]

After the intermission, My Chemical Romance would return to the stage, ditching the "Black Parade" persona in favor of attire reminiscent to their outfits from their Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004) era;^[23] the backdrop of the stage would be replaced by simply the word "revenge" in all caps.^[23] From there, they would play a selection of their greatest hits from their previous studio albums, such as "I'm Not Okay (I Promise)", "The Ghost of You", and others. After playing through a selection of their previous songs for about thirty minutes,^[26] the band would then conclude the concert with "Helena".^[27]

According to the Billboard Boxscore, the Black Parade World Tour earned $183,600 per show on average, with an average of 5,415 tickets sold per date. It was a more profitable tour than the bands next headlining tour, the World Contamination Tour, which averaged $136,000 in profit and 3,392 in tickets sold per show, a 27% decrease and a 37% decrease respectively.^[28] In 2024, My Chemical Romance announced a second tour centered around The Black Parade, called Long Live The Black Parade, which is set to take place throughout 2025.^[29]

The performances of Gerard Way and the rest of the band during the tour were praised. Gary Graft of Billboard believed that the energy displayed by the band during the shows surpassed that present on the actual album.^[30] NME highlighted Way's banter and joking mannerisms towards the crowd, saying that Way "[gestured] like a sinister puppet master, clearly intoxicated with power", regardless of what role he was currently playing during the show.^[23] Neva Chonin of SFGate wrote that the performances of Way and the band were extremely appealing to teenagers, and that they could be compared to other popular rock acts such as Kiss and Queen.^[25] Thompson Ed of IGN compared Way's performance to Bob Geldof's during The Wall Tour and Freddie Mercury's vocal capabilities, and said it featured "over-the-top displays of disaffected extravagance".^[4] Scott McLennan of Telegram & Gazette deemed Way to be closer to a performer than a singer during the show.^[31]

Many commented on the production behind the tour. Chonin stated that the band had a "talent for theatrical excess", highlighting the several stage elements that were used during the songs, including the flame pots and sparks.^[25] NME believed that the theatrics combined with the band's performance "bolstered emo’s prime pin-up".^[23] Kelefa Sanneh of The New York Times said that the overall effect of the theatrics was impressive, although they believed that there were some "awkward moments", such as when it took time for blimps to abruptly inflate and deflate during songs.^[32] In 2021, David McLaughlin of Kerrang! said that the Black Parade World Tour was one of the ten best concert tours of all time, describing it as a "theatrical, all sensory masterclass" that demonstrated the creativity and commercial peak of My Chemical Romance.^[15]

Taken from the track list of The Black Parade Is Dead!.^[35]

• Bryant, Tom (2014). Not the Life It Seems: The True Lives of My Chemical Romance. Boston: Da Capo Press. ISBN 978-0306823497.