The past few months have been pretty sweet for My Chemical Romance. They've maintained an improbable reign atop the "TRL" countdown with their "Helena" video, scored four Video Music Award nominations for the clip, headlined the Warped Tour and seen
sales of their Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge album surge past the 825,000 mark.
So what's left for them to do? How about launch their first-ever headlining tour.
As announced late last week, My Chemical Romance will embark on a 28-city marquee-topping tour this fall, with OGs (original goth-punks) the Alkaline Trio and jokey pop-punkers Reggie & the Full Effect as supporting acts. And while MCR's label, Reprise Records, was rather tight-lipped about additional details last week, the first batch of dates on the tour have bobbed to the surface.
The first confirmed date is September 15 at the PromoWest Pavilion in Columbus, Ohio, with an additional 15 dates confirmed thus far (the band is slated to begin a British tour on November 1).
And for MCR frontman Gerard Way, September 15 can't come fast enough. When MTV News caught up with him recently, he was literally bounding with excitement as he discussed his band's grandiose plans for its tour, details of which had only been hinted at in previous months (see "My Chemical Romance Reanimate Helena For Online Video Game") and in the "Helena" video itself (see "My Chemical Romance Aim For Smashing Pumpkins Status").
"We'd talked about bringing out dancers for our headlining tour in the fall, but it's a big undertaking; you have to have a bus full of dancers. We've always wanted to do a big theatrical tour. But you have to do it in steps," Way said. "You can't just spring it on people all at once. So we've been working on video content and lighting for the fall tour — just some stuff we've never had. And hopefully with our next U.S. tour — which might be for our next album — we'll have some real theatrical stuff."
OK, so you can't blame the band for taking baby steps: Going from battle-of-the-bands showcase at New Jersey's Starland Ballroom to arena-rock spectacle in just a few short years is kind of difficult. And besides, Way said, if you want stadium-ready tunes and theatrics, you'll just have to wait for My Chem's next album.
"We've got about eight songs written for the next record, and we love all of them. It's a reflection of the band maturing," he said. "The band knows what it does well, and it still does that, but we're taking a few risks. Some slower tempos, some heavier stuff. There's more of the arena-rock element that was hinted on with the last record."
My Chemical Romance's fall tour dates, according to Reprise:
- 9/15 - Columbus, OH @ PromoWest Pavilion
- 9/16 - Cleveland, OH @ Scene Pavilion
- 9/17 - Ypsilanti, MI @ Eastern Michigan University Convocation Center
- 9/18 - Chicago, IL @ University of Illinois at Chicago Pavillion
- 9/20 - St. Paul, MN @ Myth
- 9/21 - Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave/Eagles Club
- 9/22 - St. Louis, MO @ The Pageant
- 9/23 - Grand Prairie, TX @ Nokia Live
- 9/24 - San Antonio, TX @ Sunset Station
- 9/25 - Houston, TX @ Reliant Arena at Reliant Park
- 9/27 - Mesa, AZ @ Mesa Amphitheatre
- 9/28 - San Diego, CA @ SOMA
- 9/29 - San Diego, CA @ SOMA
- 10/2 - San Jose, CA @ Event Center Arena
- 10/3 - Reno, NV @ Reno Hilton Amphitheatre
- 10/5 - Orem, UT @ McKay Events Center
This report is from MTV News.
|
