LIVE REVIEW: My Chemical Romance, Idlewild, Summer Sessions, Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, 04/07/2026
Photo Credit: Claire Marie Vogel
It’s American Independence Day and what better way to celebrate the fact than spending a couple of hours with New Jersey emo rockers My Chemical Romance (MCR) who will be playing the 2006 album The Black Parade in full and in sequence during the Long Live The Black Parade Tour.
Edinburgh indie rockers Idlewild are a band that Gerard and Mikey Way were into back in the day and were personally picked by them to support them for the Glasgow show, the last of the Summer Sessions for 2026. We had Kings Of Leon the previous night and Alanis Morrissette a few nights before that so could MCR and Idlewild live up to those standards? Hell yeah! The crowd reaction to Idlewild isn’t great with some suggesting that a relevant emo band would have been a better support for MCR. We are in amongst the golden circle for this one and looking around it’s great to see everyone dressed up for the occasion. Idlewild took to the stage at 6.30, a little later than scheduled to begin a memorable night of music, the Edinburgh band work through a twelve track setlist including their most recognised songs such as You Held The World In Your Arms, A Modern Way Of Letting Go and final tune of the set In Remote Part/Scottish Fiction where every musician on the stage gives absolutely everything. Vocalist Roddy Woomble is superb throughout and for us this was a decent forty-five minute set, Idlewild will be back in Glasgow in August where they play at Kelvingrove Bandstand. 8/10
Gerard Way was suddenly popular with one half of Glasgow at least when he made a surprise visit to Celtic Park football ground before the show but nothing in comparison to the adulation he received from the thousands that descended upon Bellahouston Park, even though it rained on and off this took nothing away from the excitement amongst the crowd who were dressed up for the occasion with painted faces being the order of the night. A bagpiper soon took to the stage to lead the crowd in a version of flower of Scotland, the reaction is rather tepid to this, it’s maybe too soon since Scotland were dumped out of the World Cup to hear the national anthem again!
The 20th anniversary of The Black Parade album tour gets underway as the band play all fourteen tracks from the 2006 record in sequence, the fictional city of Draag is looking spectacular tonight as Gerard Way, his brother Mikey Way and other bands members receive a huge roar from the crowd that must have numbered around thirty thousand or so. It is Over Fields, the fictional national anthem of Draag that leads the band on to the stage as the set begins with The End and Dead! An early contender for the best song of the set is the album title track Welcome To The Black Parade where the crowd have been given cards upon entry to vote whether a public execution would take place, the cards are written in the fictional language of Keposhka and the crowd can either vote Yea or nay as four hooded people can be seen between the golden circle and the main crowd as the crowd vote to ‘assassinate’ all four of them, it truly is a remarkable moment and this now feels more like theatre than a music gig right now.
Opera singer Lucy Joy Altus appears on stage to sing Mama before the crowd go wild to one of the bands most popular songs Teenagers. When MCR played at Anfield in Liverpool a few nights before Glasgow they played the remainder of the set on a B stage and we all turned around in anticipation of this happening but they eventually reappeared on the main stage instead, we are not sure whether this was due to the unpredictable Glasgow weather tonight. The band have changed from their alter ego now with Gerard Way throwing off the shackles of the grand immortal dictator in the fictional world of Draag to a more relaxed one as Gerard has a hooded jacket as he tells the crowd ‘we are MCR from New Jersey’. Clarice Jensen performs From A to B to the delight of the crowd before we are treated to a plethora of MCR hits including Bury Me In Black, The Ghost of You and I’m Not Okay (I Promise). The next track they play is totally unexpected, taken from compilation release Conventional Weapons from way back in 2014, AMBULANCE is played live for the very first time ever in Glasgow, we feel really privileged that they threw in this extra song. They weren’t done yet though, the end of the set has three outstanding songs to end the night: Hang ‘Em High, Helena and Vampires Will Never Hurt You. Twenty five songs in what ended up a two hour set sent everyone away with You’ll Never Walk Alone belting out from the PA system and we all had big smiles on our faces too after what we just witnessed. Three sold out nights at Wembley Stadium followed the Glasgow show, the Welcome To The Black Parade Tour actually began way back on 11th July 2025 in Seattle and concludes on 23rd November 2026 in Jakarta proving how massive a fanbase this band have. 9/10
Written by: Alan Brown
