MCR @ Maxwell's: Hoboken NJ, 10/24/07
THIS SHOW WAS AWESOME.
So. I left Columbus at about 6pm after a Rally’s pit stop and it had seriously been raining all day, I knew since weather moves from west to east it would probably rain all the way to New Jersey and sure enough it was steady the entire time. Definitely one of the most miserable drives of my life, but like my friends and I decided, it’s not REALLY a my chem show unless it involves overcoming some kind of adversity; it has to be stressful each time for some reason.
At any rate; I picked up my friend ty4thavenom from the airport in Newark, and we went to the hotel to park, and then took the train into Hoboken which ended up being a good idea since parking was hard to come by in the afternoon. It was about 1:30pm once we arrived and we went straight to Maxwell’s where there were already guys outside handing out numbered wristbands so it was first come first serve but no one had to wait in line all day. That was a nice idea, I just felt dumb because I spent the afternoon screwing around in Hoboken and not hanging around the venue where apparently everyone and their mom met the guys.
I ended up with number 21 which I was extremely happy with especially since I didn’t get there until so late, we finally got in line around 5:30 and everyone lined up in numerical order where we proceeded to wait in line until the band was done sound checking. Of course it started raining as we waited and by the time we got inside at like 8:30pm everyone was freezing cold.
I don’t think I can even describe how small Maxwell’s is. It’s tiny, just a little room with a miniature stage raised about 2 feet off the ground. It was insanely intimate; the whole time we were waiting it didn’t feel real, it seemed like we were seeing a My Chemical Romance cover band, not the ACTUAL MCR. Before the show started they made a special announcement letting us know that the show was being filmed for a DVD so cameras of any kind were strictly prohibited. It seemed like we were waiting forever for the guys to come on, but sure enough at just slightly after 9:30pm the guys came up from the back along the side of the crowd and took the stage, it barely fit all of them (including James) and at one point I remember the end of Frank’s guitar bumped into Mikey’s.
They started off with ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ and it immediately became apparent that it would be impossible to hear Gerard sing. The crowd over powered him from the very beginning and it was just completely amazing. The pushing also started right away and all the girls in the front were falling all over the stage. I immediately got pushed from the third row to the second and I ended up behind this girl who I felt so bad for. We were directly in front of Mikey and the pushing was so bad, she’d fallen with both of her arms on the stage holding her up and I was basically laying on top of her, the person behind me laying on me, etc. I don’t know what would have happened if the guys hadn’t stopped between almost every song to make the crowd move back, I genuinely wonder if someone might have died. It was just insane.
Gerard immediately said that they hadn’t played Maxwell’s in 5 and ½ years and that the last time they did was the only time that he and Mikey’s Grandma got to see them live. He explained that she stood by the speaker and he didn’t know how she didn’t go deaf. I don’t know how she didn’t either because my ears were ringing so bad afterwards. One of the first times Gerard stopped the crowd to move back, there was this girl upfront who was getting crushed and he started talking to her and was like “How old are you?” and she said she was 13 in a really cute voice (she was seriously adorable) and Gerard was all “Wow, I wish I was that cool when I was 13” meanwhile se kept falling all over so he was like “Here, why don’t you come up here” and he started trying to pull her out, but he couldn’t get her on his own, so Frank came over and started pulling too and Gerard was all “Whoa, easy, get her legs, we don’t want her to come out as just a torso that would be bad” so finally they got her out and asked her her name, and she was so stoked, it was cute, they then let her stand on Frank’s side of the stage and gave her water and the show continued from there.
In the middle of the set it started getting really bad, people were passing out (including my good friend Lauren who they stopped the show for and had worm charge through the crowd to retrieve, I didn’t even know it was her at the time.) Around this time the crowd was pushing so bad that the girl in front of me was getting crushed and it was IN BETWEEN songs, and Frank suggested that she come and stand on the stage too, so he pulled her out and her foot got stuck between my legs and it had to be forcibly pulled out by him. I told him it was a good thing I wasn’t a dude and we all laughed, so after that I got to be in the front so that I could be falling all over the stage too.
I remember at one point when there was a lot of pushing going on, some girl crowd surfed to the front and was on stage with the band and Gerard was all “Well, I don’t know where you’re going to go..” and the girl made like she was just going to stage dive and Gerard goes all “Oh no! Don’t jump!” and Frank was laughing at him and said “Well..Gerard, she kind of HAS to jump.” It just made me laugh because to me I feel like Gerard is at his best with a large audience and he has a hard time connecting with stage dives, meanwhile that’s Frankie’s specialty. Anyway, after the girl dove back into the crowd and she was being surfed back Gerard said “Oh hey watch your head on those lights…oh damn, now she definitely needs to get out” which I assume means she hit her head on the lights since the ceiling was so low. Right after that happened it just seemed like the place was falling apart, people were passing out and getting hurt and everyone upfront was yelling for Gerard to tell people to back up. Gerard looked back to James and Bob who were smoking a cigarette (even though it’s illegal to smoke inside in NJ) and Gerard just shakes his head and says “Yo can I get a cigarette?” I assume it must have been stressful to watch all that happen.
It was just insane, Gerard thanked this one burly guy in the audience and referred to him as “the mosh pit leader, even though there wasn’t really a mosh pit” at which point someone screamed “Then let’s start a fuckin’ circle!!” that comment amused Frank (and me) greatly and he was cracking up, I think just because it was SO MUCH different than a normal My Chem show. It was like complete and utter chaos. For example Frank lowered his mic stand and was allowing us to hold onto it so we could keep ourselves from falling and during ‘I’m Not Okay’ There was like 4 of us clinging to it for dear life and we all got to yell the “Trust me!” part into the mic with him it was awesome. I remember at one point he tried to take away the mic and everyone was like “NO! Frank that’s holding us up!” and he immediately replaced it and just basically let us have it all night. Once I got pushed a little further to Gerard’s side I was yelling to get his attention to ask if I could hold onto his to keep from falling and I guess he couldn’t hear me so he put the mic up to my mouth and let me ask into it so he could hear, he said that it was definitely fine ☺
Things were just crazy throughout the middle part of the set and by the time Famous Last Words came around my entire body was on the stage with the band with the exception of one foot, I seriously could have played Mikey’s bass with my head and I kept thinking the whole time that if he or Frank moved they would probably crack me in the face with their guitar; luckily they didn’t. I was so into the song I was like beating my fists against the stage and I was moving my arm up in the air along to the beat as people do and then, THE MOST AMAZING MOMENT OF MY LIFE HAPPENED: Frank Grabbed my hand and was holding it and moving our arms up and down together for several beats just because we were both feeling it so hard it was awesome. I really felt like I definitely bonded with him last night. I swear we were having like head banging contests cause everytime one of us would start the other one would start too, and then every time I looked up he was still going so I felt like I had to keep going too.
This is getting verbose so I’ll try to write the rest in bullet format:
Things Gerard Said
“We always have fun, but it’s been a long time since we’ve had fun like this”
“The thing I like about these smaller shows is that we can take as much time between songs as we want. I like that, do you guys like that? (screams) “Fuck yeah, I know I need a break because it’s SO damned hot”
“Bob’s hair is so long he looks like a hippie, he needs a hair cut”
(in response to people chanting ‘Sorrows’) “What? What are you guys saying?” (someone yells ‘OUR LADY OF SORROWS!’) “Oh, oh you guys. You know, Bob brings a gun to shows for when people request that.”
(Someone yells ‘Gerard what was the name of that song?!’ after they’d finished playing their new song) “I’m not going to tell you the name because then when we change it in a year you guys will all bitch about it….C’mon, you know you will. Actually, It’s the final title, but I’m still not going to tell you.”
Things that happened
Finally the pushing was getting so bad that worm and MCR's main security guy (I feel bad I don't know his name, he basically kept me from passing out) just charged through the crowd and started throwing people back, forcing them to back up. The main security guy came and sat on the stage right infront of me and kept using me as a human shield to push back the crowd, but it was good because he kept a lot of us from getting crushed.
I almost wrecked the entire set at one point because I had Frank's mic stand in one hand and Gerard's in the other and I started falling and didn't remember to let go of them until I'd pulled them both diagonal.
Ray was wearing a shirt with what looked like James' face on it and read 'Don't stop dancing'
Jamia, Alicia, and Ultragrrl were the recognizable faces in the house. There were probably more, but they were the only people spotted by me and my associates. lol.
The guys didn't come out afterwards. Everyone but Ray snuck out the front door while everyone was waiting by the back. My friends and I were up by the front just in time to watch them get in their van. We waved, but they didn't wave back lol. After that show though, there's no way I could ever think it was because they were 'mean'.
Before the show we saw Gerard hanging around out back surrounded by security. He was talking on his cell: HE HAS AN IPHONE!
So many amazing things happened and were said at this show that there’s no way I could remember it all. It was like every second a new amazing thing was happening. I just hope the camera guys (including Frank, Gerard, and some random fan, because they did some hand held filming themselves) got all of it on video, and more importantly that they don’t edit the hell of it. There’s a lot more things I could probably type, but I’m already doubting that anyone will read this as it is; it’s so long and probably confusing, but props to you if you do!
So. I left Columbus at about 6pm after a Rally’s pit stop and it had seriously been raining all day, I knew since weather moves from west to east it would probably rain all the way to New Jersey and sure enough it was steady the entire time. Definitely one of the most miserable drives of my life, but like my friends and I decided, it’s not REALLY a my chem show unless it involves overcoming some kind of adversity; it has to be stressful each time for some reason.
At any rate; I picked up my friend ty4thavenom from the airport in Newark, and we went to the hotel to park, and then took the train into Hoboken which ended up being a good idea since parking was hard to come by in the afternoon. It was about 1:30pm once we arrived and we went straight to Maxwell’s where there were already guys outside handing out numbered wristbands so it was first come first serve but no one had to wait in line all day. That was a nice idea, I just felt dumb because I spent the afternoon screwing around in Hoboken and not hanging around the venue where apparently everyone and their mom met the guys.
I ended up with number 21 which I was extremely happy with especially since I didn’t get there until so late, we finally got in line around 5:30 and everyone lined up in numerical order where we proceeded to wait in line until the band was done sound checking. Of course it started raining as we waited and by the time we got inside at like 8:30pm everyone was freezing cold.
I don’t think I can even describe how small Maxwell’s is. It’s tiny, just a little room with a miniature stage raised about 2 feet off the ground. It was insanely intimate; the whole time we were waiting it didn’t feel real, it seemed like we were seeing a My Chemical Romance cover band, not the ACTUAL MCR. Before the show started they made a special announcement letting us know that the show was being filmed for a DVD so cameras of any kind were strictly prohibited. It seemed like we were waiting forever for the guys to come on, but sure enough at just slightly after 9:30pm the guys came up from the back along the side of the crowd and took the stage, it barely fit all of them (including James) and at one point I remember the end of Frank’s guitar bumped into Mikey’s.
They started off with ‘Welcome To The Black Parade’ and it immediately became apparent that it would be impossible to hear Gerard sing. The crowd over powered him from the very beginning and it was just completely amazing. The pushing also started right away and all the girls in the front were falling all over the stage. I immediately got pushed from the third row to the second and I ended up behind this girl who I felt so bad for. We were directly in front of Mikey and the pushing was so bad, she’d fallen with both of her arms on the stage holding her up and I was basically laying on top of her, the person behind me laying on me, etc. I don’t know what would have happened if the guys hadn’t stopped between almost every song to make the crowd move back, I genuinely wonder if someone might have died. It was just insane.
Gerard immediately said that they hadn’t played Maxwell’s in 5 and ½ years and that the last time they did was the only time that he and Mikey’s Grandma got to see them live. He explained that she stood by the speaker and he didn’t know how she didn’t go deaf. I don’t know how she didn’t either because my ears were ringing so bad afterwards. One of the first times Gerard stopped the crowd to move back, there was this girl upfront who was getting crushed and he started talking to her and was like “How old are you?” and she said she was 13 in a really cute voice (she was seriously adorable) and Gerard was all “Wow, I wish I was that cool when I was 13” meanwhile se kept falling all over so he was like “Here, why don’t you come up here” and he started trying to pull her out, but he couldn’t get her on his own, so Frank came over and started pulling too and Gerard was all “Whoa, easy, get her legs, we don’t want her to come out as just a torso that would be bad” so finally they got her out and asked her her name, and she was so stoked, it was cute, they then let her stand on Frank’s side of the stage and gave her water and the show continued from there.
In the middle of the set it started getting really bad, people were passing out (including my good friend Lauren who they stopped the show for and had worm charge through the crowd to retrieve, I didn’t even know it was her at the time.) Around this time the crowd was pushing so bad that the girl in front of me was getting crushed and it was IN BETWEEN songs, and Frank suggested that she come and stand on the stage too, so he pulled her out and her foot got stuck between my legs and it had to be forcibly pulled out by him. I told him it was a good thing I wasn’t a dude and we all laughed, so after that I got to be in the front so that I could be falling all over the stage too.
I remember at one point when there was a lot of pushing going on, some girl crowd surfed to the front and was on stage with the band and Gerard was all “Well, I don’t know where you’re going to go..” and the girl made like she was just going to stage dive and Gerard goes all “Oh no! Don’t jump!” and Frank was laughing at him and said “Well..Gerard, she kind of HAS to jump.” It just made me laugh because to me I feel like Gerard is at his best with a large audience and he has a hard time connecting with stage dives, meanwhile that’s Frankie’s specialty. Anyway, after the girl dove back into the crowd and she was being surfed back Gerard said “Oh hey watch your head on those lights…oh damn, now she definitely needs to get out” which I assume means she hit her head on the lights since the ceiling was so low. Right after that happened it just seemed like the place was falling apart, people were passing out and getting hurt and everyone upfront was yelling for Gerard to tell people to back up. Gerard looked back to James and Bob who were smoking a cigarette (even though it’s illegal to smoke inside in NJ) and Gerard just shakes his head and says “Yo can I get a cigarette?” I assume it must have been stressful to watch all that happen.
It was just insane, Gerard thanked this one burly guy in the audience and referred to him as “the mosh pit leader, even though there wasn’t really a mosh pit” at which point someone screamed “Then let’s start a fuckin’ circle!!” that comment amused Frank (and me) greatly and he was cracking up, I think just because it was SO MUCH different than a normal My Chem show. It was like complete and utter chaos. For example Frank lowered his mic stand and was allowing us to hold onto it so we could keep ourselves from falling and during ‘I’m Not Okay’ There was like 4 of us clinging to it for dear life and we all got to yell the “Trust me!” part into the mic with him it was awesome. I remember at one point he tried to take away the mic and everyone was like “NO! Frank that’s holding us up!” and he immediately replaced it and just basically let us have it all night. Once I got pushed a little further to Gerard’s side I was yelling to get his attention to ask if I could hold onto his to keep from falling and I guess he couldn’t hear me so he put the mic up to my mouth and let me ask into it so he could hear, he said that it was definitely fine ☺
Things were just crazy throughout the middle part of the set and by the time Famous Last Words came around my entire body was on the stage with the band with the exception of one foot, I seriously could have played Mikey’s bass with my head and I kept thinking the whole time that if he or Frank moved they would probably crack me in the face with their guitar; luckily they didn’t. I was so into the song I was like beating my fists against the stage and I was moving my arm up in the air along to the beat as people do and then, THE MOST AMAZING MOMENT OF MY LIFE HAPPENED: Frank Grabbed my hand and was holding it and moving our arms up and down together for several beats just because we were both feeling it so hard it was awesome. I really felt like I definitely bonded with him last night. I swear we were having like head banging contests cause everytime one of us would start the other one would start too, and then every time I looked up he was still going so I felt like I had to keep going too.
This is getting verbose so I’ll try to write the rest in bullet format:
Things Gerard Said
“We always have fun, but it’s been a long time since we’ve had fun like this”
“The thing I like about these smaller shows is that we can take as much time between songs as we want. I like that, do you guys like that? (screams) “Fuck yeah, I know I need a break because it’s SO damned hot”
“Bob’s hair is so long he looks like a hippie, he needs a hair cut”
(in response to people chanting ‘Sorrows’) “What? What are you guys saying?” (someone yells ‘OUR LADY OF SORROWS!’) “Oh, oh you guys. You know, Bob brings a gun to shows for when people request that.”
(Someone yells ‘Gerard what was the name of that song?!’ after they’d finished playing their new song) “I’m not going to tell you the name because then when we change it in a year you guys will all bitch about it….C’mon, you know you will. Actually, It’s the final title, but I’m still not going to tell you.”
Things that happened
Finally the pushing was getting so bad that worm and MCR's main security guy (I feel bad I don't know his name, he basically kept me from passing out) just charged through the crowd and started throwing people back, forcing them to back up. The main security guy came and sat on the stage right infront of me and kept using me as a human shield to push back the crowd, but it was good because he kept a lot of us from getting crushed.
I almost wrecked the entire set at one point because I had Frank's mic stand in one hand and Gerard's in the other and I started falling and didn't remember to let go of them until I'd pulled them both diagonal.
Ray was wearing a shirt with what looked like James' face on it and read 'Don't stop dancing'
Jamia, Alicia, and Ultragrrl were the recognizable faces in the house. There were probably more, but they were the only people spotted by me and my associates. lol.
The guys didn't come out afterwards. Everyone but Ray snuck out the front door while everyone was waiting by the back. My friends and I were up by the front just in time to watch them get in their van. We waved, but they didn't wave back lol. After that show though, there's no way I could ever think it was because they were 'mean'.
Before the show we saw Gerard hanging around out back surrounded by security. He was talking on his cell: HE HAS AN IPHONE!
So many amazing things happened and were said at this show that there’s no way I could remember it all. It was like every second a new amazing thing was happening. I just hope the camera guys (including Frank, Gerard, and some random fan, because they did some hand held filming themselves) got all of it on video, and more importantly that they don’t edit the hell of it. There’s a lot more things I could probably type, but I’m already doubting that anyone will read this as it is; it’s so long and probably confusing, but props to you if you do!