Suiqegoqil’s Weblog

The Black Parade (2006–2007)

Announcement of The Black Parade at London Hammersmith Palais

A biography titled Something Incredible This Way Comes was released, written by Paul Stenning (Published in 2006). It features their beginnings, right through to The Black Parade. On August 22, 2006, the band played a special one-off show at the 1800-capacity London Hammersmith Palais. The show sold out in 15 minutes prompting tickets being sold on eBay well over the tickets’ face value. The name of the album they promoted was announced and 20 people dressed in black capes with their faces obscured paraded around Hammersmith, followed by a large group of fans and street team members with signs saying “The Black Parade”. Later during the show the album title and the UK release date were confirmed. Prior to the band taking the stage it was announced that My Chemical Romance were unable to play, but they would be replaced by “The Black Parade”. After initial crowd hostility it became clear the band were simply performing under a pseudonym in keeping with the theme of the album.

“Welcome to the Black Parade” was released as a single on September 11, 2006 on iTunes. On September 26, 2006, the music video for “Welcome to the Black Parade” was released in the UK, and on September 27 in the US.^[7]

“Welcome to the Black Parade” reached number one on October 15, 2006, on the UK Singles Chart, giving them their first number one. The Black Parade was released on October 23, 2006 in the United Kingdom and on October 24, 2006 in the United States.

The Black Parade World Tour started on February 22, 2007, with Rise Against, Thursday and Muse as support acts.^[11] Reggie and the Full Effect frontman James Dewees played keyboards/synth on the tour.

My Chemical Romance received mixed accolades. In Kerrang! magazine, issue 1138, My Chemical Romance won the following categories in the 2006 poll: Best Band, Worst Band, Best Album (The Black Parade), Worst Album (The Black Parade), Best Track (“Welcome to the Black Parade”), Best Video (“Welcome to the Black Parade”), Best Live Show, Best Thing about 2006, Worst Thing about 2006, Hero of 2006 (Gerard Way), Villain of 2006 (Gerard Way), and Sexiest Male (Gerard Way). Strangely, Gerard Way also finished third in the Sexiest Female category. Also, in issue 1139, Kerrang! rated The Black Parade as the 4th Greatest Album of 2006. In Rolling Stone magazine’s ranking of the top 50 albums of 2006, The Black Parade was voted the 20th best album of the year. My Chemical Romance won the award for “Best International Band” at the 2007 NME Awards. Gerard also won the “Hero of the Year” award.^[12]

The band during the Big Day Out in 2007 February

My Chemical Romance on tour, wearing the clothes of The Black Parade

On April 19, 2007, it was announced that Mikey Way would temporarily leave My Chemical Romance’s 2007 tour to spend time with his new wife, Alicia Simmons-Way. Mikey’s temporary replacement was Matt Cortez, a friend of the band.^[13]

During the third leg of The Black Parade World Tour as a support act for Muse, members of My Chemical Romance band and crew and members of Muse’s crew suffered food poisoning, and consequently had to cancel six shows.^[14] My Chemical Romance was a part of Linkin Park’s Projekt Revolution tour in 2007,^[15] along with, Placebo, Mindless Self Indulgence, Saosin, Taking Back Sunday, HIM, and Linkin Park.

Four original recordings from The Black Parade were featured on the Xbox 360 release of Guitar Hero II. “Dead!” was added to the song list in-game, and as of August 14, 2007 three more tracks were made available via bulk download from the Xbox Live Marketplace: “This is How I Disappear”, “Teenagers“, and “Famous Last Words“. The My Chemical Romance Track Pack is available for 500 Microsoft Points.^[16]

It was announced that My Chemical Romance will be on a headlining tour in Europe with Mindless Self Indulgence opening, starting in October 2007.^[17]

Mikey returned to the band on October 4, 2007.

On November 15th it was reported that Frank Iero and Bob Bryar would be sitting out the UK tour dates, with Bob having wrist problems and Frank having to return home to be with his family due to the death of his grandmother, guitar tech Matt Cortez replaced Frank, and Pete replaced Bob.^[18]

My Chemical Romance was nominated for “Best Alternative Group” at the 2007 American Music Awards, along with Linkin Park and The White Stripes, but Linkin Park won the award. This award was not aired on television.

On December 19, 2007 EP Live and Rare was released in Japan. The EP features tracks from singles from The Black Parade.