My Chemical Romance: The Black Parade Is Dead! (2LP, live) [REPRISE]

Why you'll love it

This 2LP set pairs the full Mexico City performance of The Black Parade with "Kill All Your Friends," "My Way Home Is Through You" and "Heaven Help Us" on side D. The album went gold in the US, the UK and New Zealand.

This edition

• 2LP set
• Recorded live in Mexico City

About the album

Killing off your own band on stage is a bold way to end a tour. On October 7, 2007, at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City, My Chemical Romance played The Black Parade one last time as the Black Parade, the marching-band alter ego they'd worn through the whole world tour, and then laid the character to rest.

The Black Parade is a concept record about the Patient, a man dying of cancer who meets death in the form of his fondest childhood memory, a marching band. Live, with the band's full theatrical production behind them, "Welcome to the Black Parade" becomes a stadium-sized singalong, "Dead!" and "Teenagers" crackle, and "Famous Last Words" lands like a finale should. "This Is How I Disappear," "The Sharpest Lives" and "Mama" keep the drama high, and "Cancer" is a hushed moment before the storm.

Recorded on the very night the alter ego was retired, it catches the band at full theatrical tilt. It's also the liveliest funeral we've ever been invited to, and the guest of honour did all the singing.

Also at Kops: more My Chemical Romance on vinyl · browse Punk

Tracklist

Listen

On Reprise, a reissue of the 2008 live album.