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My Chemical Romance

Stadium MK, Milton Keynes

Thursday 19th May 2022

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MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE – MILTON KEYNES – LIVE REVIEW

It’s March 2013 and the following statement appears on the website of My Chemical Romance, breaking hearts around the world:

“Being in this band for the past 12 years has been a true blessing. We’ve gotten to go places we never knew we would. We’ve been able to see and experience things we never imagined possible. We’ve shared the stage with people we admire, people we look up to, and best of all, our friends. And now, like all great things, it has come time for it to end. Thanks for all of your support, and for being part of the adventure.”

My Chemical Romance statement – March 2013

Fast forward to October 2019 and those hearts are sent racing with news that the band will reunite for a show in LA that December. Following that show many more shows are announced including three dates at Stadium MK in Milton Keynes. Of course just weeks later the world stopped as the pandemic took hold, and those shows fell by the wayside.

Finally, now in May 2022 the band can make their long awaited return to the UK; their show at the Eden Project just days ago being their first show on these shores since headlining Leeds Festival in August 2011.

So with the magnitude of these shows established let’s get into it! Stadium MK is the home to MK Dons Football Club, but has also become a popular destination for live music following an appearance from Rammstein back in 2019.

There is a great supporting bill in place this evening, with the hotly-tipped Witch Fever opening up proceedings. The band are able to grab the attention of the early crowd and hold it throughout their short but impressive set. The band will release their debut album in October, and after this performance that is certainly one to watch out for.

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Another reunited band is next as LostAlone return having split back in 2014. The band toured with My Chemical Romance early in their career, so it’s a nice touch to have them back on this show. Frontman Steven Battelle does a fantastic job getting the crowd warmed up and the band leave the stage victoriously having conquered their big return.

Main support comes from the incredible Placebo who have just released their first album in 9 years, ‘Never Let Me Go’. In true Placebo fashion the band don’t cater towards the crowd and for the first thirty or so minutes stick with a mix of new songs and obscurer tracks from their back catalogue.

As a huge fan of the band, their set is fantastic, but from the audience reaction those in attendance clearly want the hits. Finally the band oblige and close out their set with the likes of ‘For What It’s Worth’, ‘The Bitter End’ and ‘Infra-red’. Placebo are defiantly going to do whatever they want to do, for some the results are stunning, for casual bystanders the results are somewhat lacklustre. Thankfully I’m in the first camp!

One thing for sure is that audience response levels are guaranteed to be high as we prepare now for our headline act. After a decade of inactivity and a couple of extra years of delay, it’s finally time for My Chemical Romance to hit the stage.

WATCH ‘THE FOUNDATIONS OF DECAY’ ON YOUTUBE
My Chemical Romance – ‘The Foundations of Decay’

Listen to ‘The Foundations of Decay’ on our Spotify Hot List!

The stadium erupts as they do, with singer Gerard Way taking the stage in blood spattered all white suit and mask for their new single, ‘The Foundations of Decay’. The noise levels then go through the non-existent roof with classic tracks ‘Helena’ and ‘Give ‘Em Hell, Kid’.

With the band mixing the setlist up every night, fans are kept on their toes and that just adds to the general excitement, making the atmosphere inside the stadium as hot as it comes.

There are huge moments within the set, with ‘Teenagers’, ‘Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)’, ‘Welcome to the Black Parade’ and ‘The Ghost of You’ all getting the entire stadium on their feet singing.

Then there are moments for the old school fans with deep cuts such as ‘It’s Not a Fashion Statement, It’s a Fucking Deathwish’ and ‘Skylines and Turnstiles’ featuring tonight.

It almost feels like the band has never been away, with the group typically cohesive yet brash. They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, yet those with the band in their heart already hold them up as aloft as a godlike entity.

This return is only going to amplify that, but with showings like this the band are only going to solidify their position as one of the biggest on the planet.

‘Famous Last Words’ and ‘I’m Not Okay (I Promise)’ both feature towards the end and the band finally send fans home happy with ‘Vampire Money’. My Chemical Romance are back, hearts are healed and there are big things to come!

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Pale Waves reveal UK Tour, debut new single and announce new album

Welcome everyone to another edition of our weekly music News Report, and it has been as huge news week for fans of Pale Waves!

This week saw the band announce a new UK Tour to take place in November. The run of dates will include a huge show at the O2 Brixton Academy in London.

That isn’t it though, as the band also announced that they will be releasing their third album, ‘Unwanted’, this August.

They also debuted the first single from the album, ‘Lies’, which you can check out below.

“‘Lies’ is about someone who built up my trust and destroyed it like a wrecking ball,” says frontwoman Heather Baron-Gracie. â€œit caused some real trust issues, but fortunately for me that person is no longer in my life. Once you do me wrong you’re gone!”

Pale Waves have been on a personal and artistic journey since the release of their debut album ‘My Mind Makes Noises’ in 2018. These experiences have begun to inform their songs in recent years and are what jump to the fore on ‘Unwanted’.

“It was really the only thing this album could be called,” says Baron-Gracie, now 27. “It’s bold and unapologetic, and that’s what the Pale Waves community is about. We don’t need to fit a perfect mould, we don’t need to apologise for being ourselves, and we won’t change for anyone. That acceptance is what connects us.”

Pre-order your copy and pick up tickets here.

Read our review of ‘Who Am I?’ from Pale Waves

IDLES announce only UK headline show this year

Continuing to focus on show and tour announcements in our News Report, we move on to IDLES.

The band announced this week that they will be playing the HMV Empire in Coventry in June. The show is the only remaining UK headline show this year!

Tickets are here.

Read our review of IDLES live in London

The Virginmarys announce new UK Tour

Also announcing a lengthy tour around the UK this week were The Virginmarys.

The duo will play 13 shows this October following the release of their latest single, ‘The Meds’, recently.

Tickets are here.

News Report

Neck of the Woods Festival announces final wave of acts

A singular piece of music festival news in our News Report this week and it comes from new Norwich event Neck of the Woods Festival.

Just a couple of weeks ahead of the event Tom Lumley & The Brave Liaison and others have been announce for the fourth stage.

They join headliners The Kooks plus the likes of The Snuts, Lottery Winners, Yonaka, Little Comets and many more.

Tickets are here.

Read our review of The Snuts live in Colchester

News Report

Five Finger Death Punch announce new album ‘Afterlife’

Five Finger Death Punch – ‘IOU’

We move our News Report onwards now on to the new releases from this past week, and we start with Five Finger Death Punch.

The metal icons this week revealed that their new album, ‘Afterlife’, will be released on August 19th. In announcing the album, the band also debuted new track, ‘IOU’, which you can check out above.

“AFTERLIFE was hands down my favorite record to make.” says 5FDP guitarist Zoltan Bathory and continues: “It is our ninth album so at this point, we have legions of loyal fans, and our signature sound is more than established. It became its own island, our ground zero we operate from and we can always come back to. So when we started this record, there was an excitement of impending musical adventures, we knew we could step away as far as we wanted to, there was a freedom of truly “anything goes.”

This resulted in an album that is way more diverse than our previous ones, while it feels more unified, because there is a framework of overarching stories in Ivan’s lyrics and interconnecting musical motifs between songs. It was not planned as a concept album, but we were so hyper-focused on painting a complete picture, it somehow feels like one… We are very proud of it and are just as impatient as the fans waiting for the release, can’t wait to share it.”

Pre-order your copy here.

Read our review of ‘Back From The Dead’ from Halestorm

My Chemical Romance return with new single ‘

My Chemical Romance – ‘The Foundations of Decay’

Perhaps the most exciting new music revelation this week was the return of My Chemical Romance with their first single in many years.

You can check out the track, ‘The Foundations of Decay’ above.

More from the band here.

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The HU debut ‘This Is Mongol’

The HU – ‘This Is Mongol’

The HU also had new music to present this week as the band debuted new track, ‘This Is Mongol’. You can listen to the track above, which comes ahead of their highly anticipated sophomore album due this summer.

Speaking about the video, singer and tumur hhuur player Jaya said, “We shot in the Mojave Desert, Nevada and the environment reminded us of Gobi Desert in Mongolia. We enjoyed shooting the video, which happened during our tour and gave us a little break to reminisce about home. The song perfectly matched the environment we made the video in. It was one of the best memories we created as a band and it was special because our producer Dashka was with us to oversee the whole process.”

More from the band here.

Listen to our ‘Hard & Heavy’ Playlist on Spotify

Royal Republic debut ‘Diggin’ It’

Royal Republic – ‘Diggin’ It’

There is plenty of new music to digest this week in our News Report and next we throw it over to Royal Republic.

This week the band debuted their latest song, ‘Diggin’ It’, which you can check out above.

More from the band here.

Listen to The Full Pelt Music Podcast

Nova Twins unveil ‘Puzzles’

Nova Twins – ‘Puzzles’

Nova Twins debuted new track, ‘Puzzles’ this week, and you can listen above.

The song comes ahead of new album, ‘Supernova’ on June 17th.

Pre-order your copy here.

Lauran Hibberd debuts ‘Step Mum’

Lauran Hibberd – ‘Step Mum’

There was also another new track forthcoming from Lauran Hibberd this week. Check out, ‘Step Mum’, above!

The track will feature on debut album, ‘GarageBand Superstar’, which will arrive August 19th.

Pre-order your copy here.

BERRIES announce debut album, and release new single ‘

BERRIES – ‘We Are Machines’

Finally, we close out this section of our News Report with the fantastic news that BERRIES will release their debut album, ‘How We Function’ on July 8th.

This week also saw the band debut their latest track, ‘We Are Machines’, which you can listen to above.

Pre-order your copy here.

Listen to ‘The Expert’ from BERRIES on our ‘Discover’ New Music Playlist

News Report

As always we conclude our News Report with the latest additions to our ‘Discover’ New Music Playlist over on Spotify.

The Lounge Society – ‘Blood Money’

The Lounge Society have announced that their debut album, ‘Tired of Liberty’, will arrive August 29th. This week they debuted new track ‘Blood Money’.

The band comments: “Blood Money is a reaction to the culture of greed that’s seeping into the corridors of power across the world. It’s a reminder that ultimately, we all suffer at the hands of self-serving elites, and it’s our personal perspective on the effects of dirty politics on the everyday lives of ourselves and people we know.

For us it’s a song that completely captures this record and us as a band. It feels like the perfect development from our previous releases to our debut album and exactly how this record should be introduced. The balance of driving guitar riffs and the groove of the drums and bass is sort of a snapshot of the album. We’d never claim to be a purely dance based band and we’d never claim to be a purely guitar riff-based band because it’s the combination of the two which excites us.

On Blood Money it felt like in the studio we took our sound to a different level. We approached the album recording in a totally fresh way to how we have recorded in the past and we got exactly what we wanted.

We had good friends & Speedy label mates of ours Anouska (Honeyglaze) and Jojo (Heartworms) do some extra vocals in the chorus, and it really elevated it and gave it an almost operatic feel which was amazing to see develop in the studio.”

Call to the Faithful – ‘The Problem’

Fierce UK Rockers Call to the Faithful return with their first offering of 2022, ‘The Problem’.

The band says: “The Problem is biographical account of the miserable situation so many of us find ourselves in, unable to break free of living paycheck to paycheck while being continuously belittled by a generation so detached from modern struggles that they provide useless solutions like “simply work harder” and “don’t waste your money at Starbucks”.

smallmint – ‘The Dark’

Northern Ireland stalwart’s smallmint have unveiled their new single, ‘The Dark’, plucked from debut LP ‘where we all end up in the end’.

Speaking of the album’s production, Cameron-Braithwaite says:

“We wanted the album to feel natural and to actually sound like a band playing live in a room, which is exactly how it was recorded. It was important for us to keep that space and energy in the recordings — no need for overproduction or too many overdubs, so that the arrangement of the music and the emotion within the lyrics could speak for themselves.” 

Listen, Follow and Discover your new favourite act now with our ‘Discover’ New Music Playlist

Then find our the stories behind the songs on our ‘Discover’ New Music Podcast!

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News Report

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Reading Festival unveil 2022 line-up!

News Report

Welcome to another edition of our News Report. We have festivals galore to report on this week as organisers look to get in on the Christmas shopping rush!

We’ll start with one of the biggest events on the planet, Reading and Leeds Festivals. This week saw the combined event reveal the first acts for 2022 including headline slots for Arctic Monkeys, Bring Me The Horizon and Rage Against The Machine!

If that wasn’t enough there are also sets from Wolf Alice, Enter Shikari, Fontaines D.C., Bastille, Fever 333 and Pale Waves. There are many, many more still to be announced too.

Tickets are here

Read our review of Bring Me The Horizon live in London

Victorious Festival announce Stereophonics and more

News Report

Taking place the same weekend will be Portsmouth’s Victorious Festival. This week the event announced their first wave of acts including Friday headliners Stereophonics.

Also playing over the weekend will be James, Nothing But Thieves, The Wombats, Self Esteem, We Are Scientists, Little Man Tate and more.

Tickets are here.

Read our review of Stereophonics live in Cambridge

Rebellion Festival reveal new R-Fest

News Report

Blackpool’s Rebellion Festival will next year include the new R-Fest. Taking place alongside the usual event, R-Fest will be part of the festival ticket or is purchasable as a standalone.

The outside event will feature headliners The Levellers, The Stranglers, Gary Numan and Squeeze.

They’ll be joined by The Wildhearts, Ferocious Dog, Beans On Toast, The Undertones, From The Jam, The Vapors, Peter Hook & The Light, Buzzcocks and more.

Tickets and information here.

Read our review of ’21st Century Love Songs’ from The Wildhearts

Burn It Down Festival reveals first acts for 2022

Torquay festival Burn It Down this week revealed the first acts for the 2022 edition. Taking place on 2nd and 3rd September, the event will feature a huge set from Dream State.

They will be joined by the likes of Tigercub, Gender Roles and Pupil Slicer.

Tickets are here.

Check out our ‘Discover’ New Music Podcast on Youtube

Cambridge Folk Festival reveal first wave of 2022 acts

The festival announcements continue with Cambridge Folk Festival. The event revealed a host of acts for the 2022 return of the festival following the pandemic.

Acts playing the event include Passenger, Seasick Steve, This Is The Kit, Show Of Hands and Beans On Toast!

Tickets are here

Watch Beans On Toast on The Full Pelt Music Podcast

The Full Pelt Music Podcast – Episode 3 – Beans On Toast

Moseley Folk & Arts Festival reveal first acts for 2022

More festival goodness comes from Birmingham and the Moseley Folk & Arts Festival, which this week revealed their first acts for next year.

The line-up will be topped by Supergrass and Seasick Steve.

Tickets are here.

Read our review of Seasick Steve live in Norwich

Wide Awake Festival returns to Brockwell Park next year

Our final festival announcement comes from London event Wide Awake, which takes place in May in Brockwell Park

The two day event will feature a headline set from Primal Scream plus appearances from Working Men’s Club, Billy Nomates, Chubby & The Gang, Yard Act and many more.

Tickets are here.

Listen to our ‘Discover’ New Music Playlist on Spotify

My Chemical Romance add additional UK dates

On to tour announcements now as our News Report progresses. My Chemical Romance fans have been left desperate to catch their returning heroes with their much hyped reunion continuously delayed by the pandemic.

With all three Milton Keynes dates long sold out, fans will now have more opportunity to catch them when they finally do arrive. This week saw the band reveal extra dates including Warrington, Cardiff and Glasgow.

Tickets will be here.

Listen to our ‘Hard & Heavy’ Playlist

The Cure announce UK Tour

Another special tour announcement this week saw The Cure reveal a run of UK dates. Fans will have the opportunity to catch them in arenas across the UK next year.

Making the dates even better is support act The Twilight Sad!

Tickets are here

Read our review of Idlewild live in London

Jack White to play 2 London shows

Seeing out our tour announcement section of the News Report is the iconic Jack White.

White this week revealed a huge World Tour for next year. ‘The Supply Chain Issues Tour’ will include two nights in London at the Hammersmith Eventim Apollo in June.

Tickets are here.

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Read our review of Enter Shikari live in London