To start the night off the Englishmen of Muse came to stage and blew away the crowd with their sound and massive array of on stage effects. Muse’s set started with the heavy guitar driven “Stockholm Syndrome”, watching Matthew Bellamy play guitar was nothing short of amazing. During some of his solos he would get so close to the floor to where he was almost laying on the ground but, still on his feet. And all the while still strumming away like nothing. Muse bassist Chris Wolstenholme was just as equally impressive in his playing although he seems to stay more in the background on stage.

The rest of Muse’s set included “Knights Of Cydonia”, “Hysteria”, “Super Massive Black Hole” and “Starlight”. During “Super   Massive Black Hole” Bellamy used his aluminum guitar face to reflect the spot light that was being used on him into the crowd that made for a great look, almost as if he was playing the guitar of a god. Bellamy also showed his skills on the piano as he played during the first part of the song “Sunburn”, only leaving the piano to reclaim his guitar to finish out the song.

I believe it the last song played was “Starlight” and at the end of it stage hands on both sides of the stage brought out huge sliver balloons and threw them in to the crowd. As the balloons bounced around they began to pop one by one with confetti flying out of each of them. So with confetti in the air Bellamy went in to his last solo and finished out Muse’s set pulling awesome amounts of feedback out of monitors with strobe lights blasting away giving an incredible end to an already extraordinary set.

And now what all the children have been waiting for, My Chemical Romance. First off let me say I have never been a big fan of My chemical Romance except for maybe a song or two. But I knew my daughter wanted to see them so I figured what the hell, how bad could it be. I was dead wrong about “how bad could it be” It turned out to be one of the most unexpected surprises I have had in a while. My Chemical Romance’s stage show is one of biggest production shows I have seen in a while, which is probably making it one of this year’s most expensive tours.

As the lights went down and the thousands of fans began screaming M C R, M C R, (slackers couldn’t even say the whole band name) the faint sound of a heart monitor was heard. Beep, beep, beep, beeeeeep…. , as front-man Gerard Way was wheeled out on a hospital bed  a soft light hit him as he rose up and began the song “The End”. As the band kicked in on the song the black curtains were pulled back to reveal the huge stage set as the rest of My Chemical Romance came out, as soon as “The End” was over they rolled straight into “Dead!”.

It was then that I could see how massive their stage set up was as the lights began shining down on stage. The first part of My Chemical romance’s show was of mostly music off of the album “The Black Parade”. As they were don in what has become their signature look the black marching band suits. Which I have always thought looked like a dark version of The Beatles as Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely hearts Club Band. Some of the songs performed were “Famous Last Words”, “I Don’t Love You” and “Teenagers”.  As they prepared to do “Welcome To The Black Parade” I noticed drummer Bob Bryar’s drum set spinning around on top of a rotating drum riser to show a second drum set that was set up behind him. The second set seems to have more snares for the marching band effect of the opening of “Welcome To The Black Parade”.

As the song neared its end four huge air canons two by the stage and two near the sound board shot of a blanket of black and white confetti that filled the arena.  While the confetti was still in the air the guys went in to “Disenchanted” with lights reflecting off of the confetti filled air. It was during the song “House Of Wolves” that My Chemical Romance really got my attention.  During the chorus line of the song enormous flames began shooting up all around drummer Bob Bryar, something I haven’t seen many bands use in these past few years since the night club fire up north that was caused by pyrotechnics a few years back.

It was then the lights were once again dimmed for what I figured was going to be My Chemical Romances encore.  Although this seemed a little long for an encore break. After about 15 minutes Gerard Way’s voice was heard on the mic saying “and now for something completely different” Once again the black curtains were pulled back only this time the stage set had been changed to My Chemical Romances old set with their banner from the “Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge” album. And the guys had taken off the black parade outfits and make up, and now looked like the My Chemical Romance of the past. With Gerard in his black leather jacket he led the crowd into “I’m Not OK”, for the rest of the show the guys did songs off of their two previous albums.

The show was ended with one of the only My Chemical Romance songs I like “Helena” that has the perfect ending chorus line for the night “So Long and Goodnight”. As I said in the beginning of this review I’m not a big fan of My chemical Romance, but I will say they put on one hell of a live show and they kept me well entertained and my daughter loved every second of it and she hasn’t stop talking about it since. If you’re My Chemical Romance fan and for whatever reason you weren’t at tonight’s show sorry to say you missed a good one, but don’t despair just yet. There’s rumor of the guys coming back sometime this summer on Linkin Park’s tour so keep your ears on for that news to be confirmed.