If you were passing by the Cardiff International Arena on this cold Sunday evening, you would be forgiven for thinking that all the f-cked up, mixed up, ‘different’ kids had been pulled in by a giant Emo magnet. That magnet is My Chemical Romance and their twisted alter egos The Black Parade. Taking the best elements of The Wall and mixing them with the showmanship of Queen and a dash of pantomime, Gerard Way has rightfully become the spokesman for the lonely, confused and alone across the planet, bringing his beauty, intelligence and porcelain fragility to the top of the world’s charts and into the hearts of anyone clever enough to listen. Welcome to The Black Parade. You can’t help but enjoy your stay…

What you get for your money on this tour is essentially two separate shows – one by The Black Parade and one by My Chemical Romance. Ah, that will be the showmanship we mentioned – during the first half of the show Gerard calls the crowd ‘Fucking animals’ and even says ‘The Black Parade don’t thank you for coming, but I’m sure My Chemical Romance will’. As the show begins and the bleeping heart monitor reverberates around the arena, Gerard Way arrives on a hospital bed wrapped in a gown for a show-stopping version of ‘The End’ before ripping off the gown to reveal his Black Parade get-up as the curtain falls and the whole band kick into ‘Dead’. Bob’s drumkit spins throughout, glitter falls from the ceiling during a heartbreaking ‘I Don’t Love You’ and during ‘Mama’, fire blasts from all sides of the stage as the lights recreate the battlefield. Stunning. ‘Cancer’ is absolutely stunning, one of the rawest and most passionate songs ever written on the subject (‘I’m just soggy from the chemo’ – this isn’t a party anthem) and conversely ‘Teenagers’ gives everyone a chance to just go crazy and bounce around. ‘Famous Last Words’ blasts out, fire explodes across the stage and The Black Parade are gone. But as lasers break the darkness and ‘Blood’ becomes the most twisted singalong of all time, we’re only half way through the evening’s entertainment…

Ladies and gentlemen, My Chemical Romance. To show the contrast in the two performances, the guitar riff from ‘For Those About To Rock’ cuts through the air before the curtain drops again and the band, now in classic ‘Revenge’ garb storm into ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’. From here, it is a blistering run through tracks from the first two records with ‘You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison’ and ‘The Ghost Of You’ the highlights and Gerard Way firing up the crowd at every opportunity, constantly thanking us for showing up and giving props to Thursday who provided excellent support to the main event. By the time ‘Helena’ brings things to a thunderous climax, every heart in the building has been broken/fixed, everyone who felt like nothing hours before feels like they could take over the world and the entire Gerard Emo army leaves feeling that they’ve seen something very special. They have. My Chemical Romance are the best band on the planet. If anyone tries to tell you otherwise, spit in their fucking faces and play The Black Parade again. Tonight, the outsiders have won and we’re ALL okay (I Promise).