How My Chemical Romance rebuilt 'The Black Parade' live at When We Were Young

A newly republished Rock Sound retrospective looks back at My Chemical Romance's full performance of 'The Black Parade' at When We Were Young Festival in October 2024, held at Las Vegas Festival Grounds. The set coincided with the band receiving the publication's Inspiration Award, honouring an album whose reach stretched well past the scene that raised it.

The central point of the piece is how the staging changed. The hospital bed and falling curtain that defined the 2006/7 touring run were gone, replaced by a stripped-back presentation: four figures dressed entirely in black against a plain white backdrop as 'The End' gave way to 'Dead!'. By removing the theatrics, the band let the songs themselves carry the night, with 'This Is How I Disappear' and 'The Sharpest Lives' landing as urgently as ever.

At the time of release, the group framed the record as a deliberate gamble. Ray Toro pointed to Queen, Pink Floyd and Iron Maiden as live-show references, while Mikey Way cited 'The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars'. Gerard Way likened the album to a straitjacket the band would eventually have to escape.

Peers on the bill weighed in on the title track. Against The Current's Chrissy Costanza called it the 'Bohemian Rhapsody' of her generation, while Jimmy Eat World's Jim Adkins noted it is not a traditional pop song yet connects anyway. Honey Revenge's Devin Papadol watched from the crowd and highlighted how visibly the four members enjoyed one another on stage.

Frank Iero, speaking to the publication more recently, observed that the band grew larger during its hiatus, comparing the process to discovering The Misfits or Black Flag through handed-down mixtapes and a parent's record collection.