Wednesday, January 30, 2008

My Chemical Romance Romance or, I Heart Mikey Way

I got to go to both go the the My Chemical Romance press con and concert last week (Thanks to Luis, Tony and Manila Bulletin). I have a soft spot in my heart for them, mostly because I love their music, but also partly because Gerard Way is such a geek. And I have a thing for geeks, especially if they're eyeliner-wearing ex-comic book store clerks whose current comic whose title sounds like a school for rain repellent enthusiasts is getting good reviews. Ahrm.

Anyway, even though the boys were a bit sullen during the press con (they had just come from South Korea, where the weather made them, well, under the weather), they still put on a heck of a performance during their concert at the Bonifacio Open Field.

Warning: what follows isn't a review of the concert so much as random comments on the Way brothers punctuated with drool. May contain cooties. Read at your own risk.

The concert started an hour late, but that didn't seem to faze the fans, who were standing on their seats as soon as the band went onstage. I immediately went into fourteen year-old girl mode, screaming, as Luis likes to say, like a wounded horse at everything the band did. Gerard looked dashing in a black polo shirt and black pants, his dark, slightly disheveled hair framing his face so that he looked like a fallen choir boy. Gerard Way is the sort of guy that I wish had taken me to the senior ball. Instead, I had to go with R------ P---, who was cute, but who also was an ass. I should have saved my money and gone with my girlfriend. I hear he's reformed, though. He'd better be, because I might just get assigned to review his debut album, bwahahahaha!

Back to Gerard. Gerard Way is the kind of guy I wouldn't mind being accosted by in a dark alley. In fact, I would feel highly insulted if I passed him and he didn't accost me. As hot as Gerard is, what most people (me included, until recently) don't realize that his brother, bassist Mikey Way, is way (pardon the pun) hotter. Now Mikey, he's one guy I'd like to accost in a dark alley. Ay, fafa! His problem is that he keeps hiding behind eyeliner, which detracts from his Jared Leto-esque features. He was also the only one who bothered to dress up for the concert. Luis said he probably didn't get the memo that the band wouldn't be performing in costume. In any case, he was muy guwapo from every angle. * faints * Also, whoever light-directed the concert was a real genius, because he used a lot of diffusion, which made the members (especially Gerard) look ethereal.

Goodbyes are never easy, but I stood on a chair for two hours just to hear Gerard sing the words “So long and goodnight,” from “Helena,” my absolute favorite MCR song. The band played other stuff as well, of course, with guitarists Ray Toro and Frank Iero, drummer Bob Bryar and some amazing guy on the piano who made me which I had paid more attention to my lessons when I was younger heated up the stage with their stellar performances. These guys are great musicians – I can't imagine any of MCR's lavish songs being easy to play, much less play well. A friend who didn't see the allure of the band once asked me what it was I found so fascinating about My Chemical Romance. I remember saying something along the lines of, “Aside from their musically complex songs, Gerard's is one of the most expressive voices I've ever heard.” Is true. Sometimes he sounds like he's ripping his throat out, all for you. And if that doesn't make you fall in love with the band, what will?

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