Good Thing We Ate At Paul's

Saturday evening, Adrian and I jetted down to the good old 'Burg to take in the Muse/My Chemical Romance show at William and Mary Hall. I felt colossally old considering the last show I saw at the Hall was Smashing Pumpkins in 1994. Sheesh. Some of the kids at the MCR show weren't even born yet.

Considering this was my first concert in quite some time (I had tickets for cousin Tori's last tour but a funeral took precedence.), I was excited, mostly to have a very non-mommy evening. Neither band disappointed.

While not as familiar with Muse's music (Adrian had played their stuff for me on occasion.), I loved their set. Very reminiscent of seventies rock. At least to me anyway. Maybe it was the lead singer dressed all in white or the glowing stage or the giant white balloons full of confetti that were let loose into the audience. I was also impressed by the large number of fans that were obviously in attendance for this, the opening act. Yeah, they're pretty darn good.

Being the geeky, MCR fan that I am, their set did not disappoint. It only reaffirmed my desire to run away with Gerard Way, even though he's less appealing now that he's returned to the jet black hair. Damn, he's a pretty fine entertainer, reminiscent of the showmanship of Freddie Mercury and the spastic energy of Mick Jagger. He danced about, ran all over the stage, directed a spot across the audience, let the crowd sing along during parts of songs. I don't know if I'd been to a show where that much audience participation was encouraged by the lead singer. There were quite a few "Hey Virginia!" shouts. It's pretty obvious that he loves to perform 'cause he hams it up big time. He was chatty in between songs as well, which I always enjoy. 'Cause if I want to just sit at home and listen to the album, I'd do that instead of shell out $30. It's nice when artists take a moment or two in between songs to talk to the audience and give 'em a little more.

They played The Black Parade in it's entirety and in order. Totally new experience for me there. No more wondering if the song I love was going to get played. Since I love every song on that album, I was in heaven, along with the middle-age woman a few aisle over who was totally rocking her ass off. How great was that.

Pyrotechnics and fireworks and cannon fire galore. MCR sure does know it's fan base. Which seems to consist of a lot of Hot Topic-esque goth teenagers

They came back for encore and played a few songs off of Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge. Say what you like about their music, My Chemical Romance does put on one hell of an entertaining show.

Then unfortunately, they ate the chicken wraps from The Leafe. Shit, how embarrassing. They'll probably never come back to Central VA again.

Luckily, Adrian and I chose to indulge in greasy deli food and a pitcher at Paul's. Dodged that bullet, didn't we?