Long Live The Black Parade[a] is a concert tour by the American rock band My Chemical Romance in celebration of their third studio album, The Black Parade (2006). It began on July 11, 2025, in Seattle, with the last scheduled date on October 24, 2026, in Los Angeles. For the tour, the band plays The Black Parade in its entirety, as well as multiple other songs on a separate B-stage set.
A theatrical styled production, the tour follows an overarching narrative centered around the fictional dictatorship of Draag. It sees the return of the band's Black-Parade alter-ego from the Black Parade World Tour in 2007, performing to appease Draag's leader, known as the Grand Immortal Dictator. Each show of the tour progresses the story, which is told through interactions between the band and multiple other characters, such as the Clerk (Charlie Saxton) and Marianne (Lucy Joy Altus). Multiple songs from The Black Parade were given modifications for the tour, ranging from new sections and introductions, to extended outros.
The tour was first announced in November 2024, after the band's performance of The Black Parade in its entirety at When We Were Young, which marked the album's first full live performance since 2007. The tour was initially announced with ten shows in North America, with an extra Los Angeles date, shows in Mexico City, Europe and the United Kingdom, South America, and a second United States leg being announced later. The tour grossed over $29,900,000 in its first four dates, with a total attendance of 158,000.
Background and history
My Chemical Romance released their third studio album, The Black Parade, in 2006.[3] It was supported by The Black Parade World Tour, which began on February 22, 2007,[4] where the band would play the album in its entirety[5] as the "Black Parade", an alter-ego band that the album was named after.[6] They played as the Black Parade alter-ego until October 7, 2007, when the alter-ego was killed off.[7] On October 19 and 20, 2024, My Chemical Romance headlined the When We Were Young festival, where they performed The Black Parade in its entirety for the first time since 2007.[3]
My Chemical Romance announced Long Live The Black Parade on November 12, 2024. Initially, ten shows across North America were announced, spanning across 2025,[3][8] with most of the shows taking place at Major League Baseball stadiums.[8] Most dates on the tour have a unique opening act (e.g. Evanescence, 100 gecs).[9][10] Due to high demand, the band had to schedule a second date in Los Angeles after tickets went on sale.[11]
In May 2025, the band announced a show in Mexico City on February 13, 2026, officially advertised as "The Black Parade – Alive!".[12] A second show in Mexico City taking place on February 14 was announced a few days later.[13] In June, the band announced a series of dates throughout South America.[14][15] Dates throughout Southeast Asia were announced in July.[16] In August, the band announced two shows at Wembley Stadium in London for July 10 and July 11, 2026.[17] On September 22, 2025, the band announced a second leg throughout the United States alongside multiple other dates in the United Kingdom and Europe, specifically Spain and Italy.[18]
Promotion
To promote the tour, My Chemical Romance released a series of teasers and trailers with cryptic meanings, sparking fan debate and speculation.[19][20] On the day before the initial announcement of the tour in November, the band posted a teaser image on their Instagram page, depicting the skyline of a white city with pieces of confetti floating around, with the letters KCR arranged in a new logo.[21] The post had the caption "If you could be anything, what would you be?".[3] Several fans speculated that the announcement was for The Paper Kingdom, the band's planned fifth studio album that was scrapped before their initial break up in 2013.[22]
When the tour was announced, the band released a trailer[23][24][25] which features a dictator walking out onto a balcony to a cheering crowd in a white-colored dystopian city.[10][25][26] The description of the trailer references the time that had passed since the last appearance of the Black Parade alter-ego, and made numerous references to a fictional dictatorship known as Draag.[10][24] The announcement trailer for the Mexico City show made similar references, while also retconning the death of the Black Parade.[12] Other teasers related to the tour that were released included ones simply titled "Opera" and "Good Boy".[20] The London dates were teased with a video that parodies older game shows, with its announcer declaring the United Kingdom as "the next lucky country to win the grand prize of one nuclear winter".[17]
The type of advertising that was used to announce the dates throughout South America were noted as differing from the rest of the tour.[27][28] Despite being labelled as part of the tour,[29][30] the announcements did not feature material related to The Black Parade, and instead featured songs from one of the band's other albums, Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge (2004).[27][28]
Production
Lead singer Gerard Way, pictured in his Black Parade uniform
For Long Live The Black Parade shows, the band performs two different sets, with the first set featuring the band dressed up as the Black Parade alter-ego, performing The Black Parade in its entirety. Their outfits are updated versions of their original Black Parade uniforms.[31] The Black Parade set features a theatrical styled production, with the band fully placing themselves into the role of the Black Parade.[32]
In addition to the band's main line-up, the tour features several additional musicians, including drummer Jarrod Alexander, keyboardist Jamie Muhoberac,[32] violinist Kayleigh Goldsworthy (who joins the band on "Cancer" and "Mama", specifically),[33] and percussionist Tucker Rule.[34] Other characters established for the tour include the Gentleman, a ventriloquist dummy that the band seemingly met while in prison; Marianne, a guest opera singer played by Lucy Joy Altus; and The Clerk, played by Charlie Saxton.[35] During the B-stage, the band plays songs from the rest of their discography.[36]
"Over Fields" redirects here. For other uses, see Overfield.
The production for Long Live The Black Parade is centered around the fictional country of Draag. The country is a dictatorship, which is ruled by who is only referred to as the "Grand Immortal Dictator".[37] Throughout the tour, several ministries of the country have either been referenced or made appearances, including the "Ministry of Menial Tasks", the "Ministry of Complimentary Reconditioning", and the "Ministry of Operatic Relations". The second of which has only been referenced in print set lists that were given out to fans.[37] Draag's national anthem is "Over Fields", which the band later uploaded onto social media.[38] In the description of the trailer which announced the tour, it states that the Black Parade alter-ego had its work privilege reinstated to celebrate the culture and accomplishments of the regime. The Black Parade's ceremonial title is "His Grand Immortal Dictator's National Band",[10][24] and the performance of the alter-ego is solely to appease the dictator. The production is intended to be a parody of political authoritarianism.[32]
The band's logo for the tour is their acronym, "MCR", in Keposhka.
For the tour, the band's vocalist Gerard Way commissioned typographer Nate Piekos to design a language for the tour, to serve as the language for Draag as well as be used on merchandise. The language is known as Keposhka.[40][39] It contains more letters than the standard English alphabet, while certain letter combinations will lead to the creation of unique symbols. The language features more of these symbols than standard letters.[37] The language is utilized in multiple aspects of the tour, including being used for the washing instructions on tour merchandise. A total of fourteen fonts, all of which are variants of Keposhka, were made by Piekos.[40] Fan attempts to decipher the language resulted in the creation of online tools for translating English to Keposhka, as well as a version of Wordle featuring exclusively Keposhka words.[40]
Song adjustments and live debuts
For the main Black Parade set, My Chemical Romance made adjustments to numerous songs.[31][33] "Mama" received updated lyrics and an extension known as the "Dagger" section. Several songs received extended introductions and outros, including "Sleep".[33] A reprise version of "The End." was also added, which features an extended outro.[31]
During the B-stage set of the band's performance in San Francisco on July 19, they premiered a cover of the Smashing Pumpkins song "Bullet with Butterfly Wings".[41] At the Chicago performance on August 29, Billy Corgan of Smashing Pumpkins joined them for another performance of "Bullet with Butterfly Wings" to close the show.[42] They premiered a cover of Bon Jovi's "Livin' on a Prayer" on August 9 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.[43] In their first night at Los Angeles on July 26, they played a song from The Paper Kingdom, titled "War Beneath the Rain". The song was dedicated to the family of their past producer Doug McKean, who were attending the show.[44]
Concert synopsis
Shows of Long Live The Black Parade open up with a guest opera singer performing the Draag national anthem, "Over Fields" (left), before the band walks on stage in their Black Parade uniforms (performance pictured right)
Shows for Long Live The Black Parade open up with a female opera singer performing the national anthem of Draag, "Over Fields", and requesting the audience to partake in the performance.[38][45] The band then comes out on stage in their Black Parade outfits and begins performing The Black Parade in full, starting with "The End.", "Dead!", "This Is How I Disappear", and "The Sharpest Lives".[45] In-between song performances are short interactions between characters that progress the tour's overarching story. Examples include Gerard Way's character receiving orders from other characters and being punished when refusing to comply, and introducing the Grand Immortal Dictator, who is played by an actor that watches the performance.[45][35] These interactions also include localized ones specific to the city the show is taking place in, such as the band being given Dodger Dogs during their performances in Los Angeles,[32][46] and them inviting the mayor of Belleville, New Jersey on stage in East Rutherford.[47] Each show on the tour features minor differences from the preceding one.[37]
The album's centerpiece, "Welcome to the Black Parade", is contextualized in the show as a nationalist speech, delivered by Gerard Way from a podium and accompanied by footage of Draag propaganda.[48] After the song, they invite the audience to participate in a mock election.[49][32][35] Prior to the show, attendees are handed voting cards for the election (which say "yea" and "nay"),[35][b] which are then used to vote on whether or not to execute four people.[32][49][35] The execution then takes place before the band continues performing the album, moving on to "I Don't Love You". The band continues to receive messages from the Clerk, while also expressing rebellion towards Draag, with Gerard Way at one point removing his Black Parade jacket after tearing up a message.[45][35]
Pyrotechnics are utilized during the band's performance of "Famous Last Words" (pictured)
The latter part of the set simulates nuclear warfare against Draag.[48] During the extended portion of "Mama", he steals a dagger from one of the Dictator's servants, and describes it as "a tool for our treasonous needs". The opera singer Marianne is also brought out to perform part of the song from the stadium's smaller B-stage.[35] "Sleep" is accompanied by a simulation of Draag launching several nuclear missiles.[48] For "Teenagers", the show screen is flashed with multiple advertisements related to in-universe products from Draag. "Disenchanted" is preceded by a video which addresses the audience regarding unity.[45] The album's closing song, "Famous Last Words", utilizes pyrotechnics as the stage erupts into flames.[45][35]
The main Black Parade set closes with the Pierrot (pictured left; center-image next to Gerard Way) setting off a bomb vest. The Black Parade is then followed by a shorter, more varied set list (performance pictured right).
At the end of the Black Parade set, the band performs a reprise version of "The End."[45][35] Mid-way through the performance, the Clerk comes on stage, now dressed up as a Pierrot, and stabs Gerard Way's character in the throat.[51][45][35] The rest of the band is then forcefully removed from the stage by Draag soldiers,[45][35] except for Muhoberac, who is escorted off of the stage while holding a plane ticket.[45] Afterwards, the Pierrot dances in victory to the album's hidden track "Blood". He later reveals a bomb vest underneath his costume, which detonates and closes the first set.[45][35] For the intermission between the two sets, cellist Clarice Jensen plays "From A to B".[44] For the second set, the band removes their Black Parade costumes and goes onto the B-stage to play an assortment of songs from the rest of their discography.[45][36]
Ticket sales and commercial performance
Tickets for the initial ten North American dates went on sale on November 15, 2024.[52][10] Within a few hours, all tickets to each show had sold out, with 365,000 tickets sold in total.[11] The prices of tickets sold for the concerts were noted by fans online as being exceptionally high, with some seats having starting prices of over US$700.[11][53] It was widely speculated that the band had opted into Ticketmaster's dynamic pricing feature, which scales the prices of tickets based on their demand.[11][53][54] Prices were further accelerated by bot accounts, which were used to automatically purchase tickets and resell them at artificially inflated prices.[55] Some fans criticized the band directly for their handling of ticket sales and alleged use of dynamic pricing, while others debated whether the band willingly opted into the practice, if they were forced into it by Ticketmaster, or if the practice was in use at all.[53][55] Tickets for the Mexico City dates went on sale on May 24, 2025,[12] while London's went on sale on August 15.[17]
The first four dates of Long Live The Black Parade earned over $29,900,000, with a total attendance of 158,000. It was the eleventh highest grossing tour of July 2025; their two shows in Los Angeles, in particular, became the twelfth highest grossing concert dates of July 2025.[1]
Sample set list
The following set list was performed at Globe Life Field in Arlington, Texas on August 2, 2025. It is not representative of all shows during the tour.[56][57]
↑ Originally titled Long Live: The Black Parade North American Tour. Also referred to as just Long Live.[2]
↑ During the Toronto show, the "yea" and "nay" signs were replaced by ones that said "chicken" and "fish", with chicken supplementing for "yea".[45] For the Tampa show, the option to vote "nay" was removed, with signs only having "yea” as an option.[50]
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