The Black Parade Tour. Yea, um. It's amazing.

Since December 30^th Iâ�™ve been waiting EVER so impatiently for February 22, 2007 to roll around. Here it is. My friend picked me up at about 3PM so weâ�™d be there at a decent time. We got to the Verizon Wireless Arena at about 5:30PM. We decided to leave our jackets behindâ�”brilliant idea. The doors would open at 6:30. Weâ�™d be fine in the horde of people wearing our short sleeve shirtsâ�¦ nope. Come 6:30, the band said they werenâ�™t ready to let us in. When we were finally let in at 7:00, it took forever for the Floor seats to get through. We got in by 7:30â�¦the show started a little bit late. I didnâ�™t know weâ�™d be STANDING. We were like, no more tan 20 feet from the stage!!

Rise Against, as we all know, was the opening act. I wasnâ�™t a huge fan of them, but I definitely liked them beforehand. They are AMAZING live. Iâ�™m definitely going to go out and buy their CD. I only knew ONE song, but the energy they had made me feel like I knew it all.

It was very surreal, to be standing so close to the stage. My friend and I watched them take apart the Rise Against set, and waited patiently for MCR. Impatiently, rather. We got pushed up a little bit when the music began to play, and there was Gerard on stage singing the beginning to â�œThe End.â� Iâ�™m not going to tell you what exactly he was doing, because I donâ�™t want to ruin it for anyone, but it was clever. My friend, who was there to see RA even enjoyed it. As they continued on to Dead! It was surreal. I was in another world! The crowd was really cool. It got a little awkward as all through This Is How I Disappear and The Sharpest Lives there was a boy behind me most definitely invading my personal space. He was so close to me youâ�™d have thought we were married. Def not though.

The crowd livened up even more for Welcome To The Black Parade, which began with two large balloons appearing at each side of the stage and ended in a shower of white and black confetti. The confetti continued falling through â�œI Donâ�™t Love Youâ� and â�œHouse of Wolves.â�

As if on cue, the crowd quieted down, and Gerard announced cancer, asking us to put our lighters in the air. About a million razr cell phones swayed through the arena as everyone (except for my friend =p) sang along. The somber mood disappeared as soon as â�œMamaâ� began, sans Liza Minnelli, but still amazing, and all the little 12-17 year olds thoroughly enjoyed â�œTeenagers.â�

I was very excited for the next song, MY song. Gerard announced to the crowd that anyone whoâ�™d seen them play before had probably heard this song, though it had been unfinished at the time. My big mouth, loud, obnoxious former cheerleader self yelled â�œSHUT UP AND PLAY!â� at the top of my lungs and received quite a few evil eyes from angry 13 year oldsâ�¦ â�œThat was the song originally!â� I held back tears through Disenchanted because the song is so personal to meâ�¦but that song didnâ�™t touch me nearly as much as the next.

Famous Last Words. Probably the most empowering song ever written. As everyone in the Arena sang along, it was almost as if we were all one. With the powerful lyrics, â�œI am not afraid to keep on livingâ� filling the venue, it was really touching to see how much that one line meant so much to everyone. It was most definitely surreal. The whole show was. Gerard said his goodbye & goodnights on behalf of the band. And then we all chanted for the encore.

The curtains reopened, and the backdrop, a circle of pistols surrounding the word, â�œRevengeâ�, then the familiar guitar rift of â�œIâ�™m Not Okay.â� They brought out several songs Iâ�™d only dreamed of seeing live; â�œGive â�˜em Hell Kidâ�, Itâ�™s Not a Fashion Statement itâ�™s a Deathwishâ�, "Cemetary Drive", â�œGhost of Youâ�, â�œYou Know What They Do to Guys Like us in Prisonâ� and lastly â�œHelena.â�

All of the â�œoldâ� made everyone go nuts, it was so cool to seeâ�¦then between songs, Gerard asked for them to bring out the mosh pit. Umâ�¦.Iâ�™m most certainly not used to thoseâ�¦and I most certainly didnâ�™t want to be included. Iâ�™m pretty sure the mosh pit tried to eat me, and I was elbowed so hard trying to escape that one of my boobs is deflating and Iâ�™m pretty sure I peed my pantsâ�¦but the experience was definitely interesting.

Overall, Iâ�™m at a loss of words as for how I would really describe this show to you. Iâ�™ve never been so happy to have witnessed something in my life. Each performance was flawless. It was great to see Frank Iero rejoining the band for the first time since heâ�™d been sick (heâ�™s so little, heâ�™s like a pocket-sized rockstar, itâ�™s so cuteâ�¦.heâ�™s so full of energy! At one point he threw a shoe into the crowd during the encore?), they also introduced the new guy (sorry, his name escapes me!) on the keyboard. Gerardâ�™s on stage presence is amazing. Heâ�™s poised, yet off the wall all at once. He handles a crowd very well, and is an amazing performer. Speaking, he sounded very hoarse, at one point he was talking to us and drinking some tea, but he still sounded amazing while singing. Itâ�™s really cool to watch Ray, if you have the chance. Itâ�™s almost as though heâ�™s playing from a permanent lunge position, heâ�™s so into his playing, itâ�™s almost like heâ�™s just by himself jamminâ�™ out! Mikey looked as though he meant business, he, like Gerard has a very dominant stage presence. Bob was also flawless and intense on each of his drum sets. Iâ�™d recommend that everyone, a fan or not go out and see this tour. My friend went in kind of iffy, and came out in awe. The Black Parde tour is purely amazing, to say the very least.

Ohsmash's Journals

The Black Parade Tour. Yea, um. It's amazing.