2 Juni 2022 - My Chemical Romance, Ahoy, Rotterdam.
Photo credit: Oor - Paul Barendregt
It has been so long since they published any new work, the band quit during their height. To the disappointed too many fans. I never really know why they stopped in the first place I guessed they just drifted apart. Who knows, I think they were still very popular when they pulled the plug.
About two years ago just before COVID hit I heard, a rumour from across the pond that My Chemical Romance was reuniting for a show. I had hopes that they would come to the Netherlands after that was announced, but of course we had a little delay as some kind of virus made it all the cross the world, ending all concerts and festivals for 2 years. It has been een interesting couple of years.
I got an email from Ticketmaster, where they announced the tour, I sent my sister a message, who is also a big fan of the band, and we bought tickets right away! Most of the good seats were already gone when I got through the line, so we had to settle for second ring tickets, which were let me tell you, still freaking expensive. I do not regret buying them, because I would not want to miss this show for the world. This was the one opportunity to get to see them play, with the original band members as well. That fact really surprised me.
So on Thursday the second of June 2022, the day was finally there, after a hard days work, we travelled to Rotterdam, which for us is about a 2 hour drive, and arrived at a venue I actually never been to before. Ahoy, Rotterdam, well that is not exactly true, I have been there, but to the exhibition halls, instead the music hall. Anyways, we arrived and there was a kind of organized chaos as the lines were not really definable, there were no barriers, to help sort out the lines. Good thing these visitors know how to do this themselves. It was kind of an interesting development, because this is not something I am used to.
Also what would be nice is that at the entrance, they have to lanes, one for people with a bag, which is of course searched upon entry. The other for people who don't carry a bag. A seasoned concert goer probably goes without a bag, or at least I do. Anyways that would have helped on the line tremendously. What happened now was they a lot of people had to wait much longer to get in as they were waiting on the bags of the person before them to be searched. Just struck me as very inefficient. I am probably just a very impatient person lol.
Anyways when we finally made it in the search started for our seats began, but first we stopped at the bar for some drinks, which were also very made in a very inefficient way. I have never seen such incompetent bar personnel I am so sorry to have to say this, but the line was long, and there were literally bar keepers just standing there and doing nothing of importance. To our annoyance, as we both know how to work a bar.
So we got our drinks and we walk on out to the stands, and we got another surprise, as they were very steep and very high! We found our seats and were almost scared to stand up again. The support act was already finishing up when we made it to our seats. Man that was scary shit, if you you fear heights I would not recommend these seats. I don't fear heights but if you would fall over it would be a long way down.
The band started out with their new song, "The Foundations of Decay", and interesting choice for a starting song, for who doesn't know, this is their newest release. I am still not really sure how I feel about it, it is just different. The intro is a very good opening, but is its my favorite MCR song? No not really.
Pretty early on they played one of my favorite songs, "Bullet Proof Heart" shortly followed by "Helena". Helena being the song that got me into My Chemical Romance. It was very excited to finally hear it played live. That goes for all those songs I have loved for such a long time. It was definitely a great show, but what I missed, and this was due probably to where we were seated. The sound was a bit meh, which caused that sometimes we missed Gerard Ways voice. And honestly I am not a big fan of those big venues like Ahoy.
I understand that to house so many people you need a lot of room, but I always feel as if I am missing a bit of my concert experience, because, first you are to stay in your seat, makes it really hard to dance. Second, the people on stage are sometimes very very tiny. And like was the case with this concert the sound was not all that great.
So yes I would not have want to miss it for the world, but I would have preferred the Afas Live, as a venue to this one. This has purely to do with my dislike of big venues, and the way I experience concerts. So I am a bit on the fence about my opinions about this concert. Where we were located the sound was not optimal and to me the setlist seemed a bit strange as well. The songs I would have played as an encore were played throughout the normal set. So by the end of the concert I was left wondering what could be left for the encore.
So let's put an end to this post, I did not mean to be overly critical but I just have a lot of mixed feelings about this concert, it just didn't hit me in all the right places, and maybe it was the venue, maybe it was the bad sound. I would love for them to play at a smaller venue so I can enjoy them properly. Still there will be no regrets here, I am so glad that I was able to see them live, that makes up for a lot, and you cannot imagine how much it means to hear those songs that you have lived forever, played out in front of you.
Have you ever seen MCR live? What did you think? Do you like big venues or small venues? Let met know in the comments.
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