"He's stabbed to death by a monochrome clown, who…

"He's stabbed to death by a monochrome clown, who promptly blows himself up." My Chemical Romance headline Thursday night of Sonic Temple with a stunning show for the ages

It’s impossible to overstate the significance of My Chemical Romance on alternative music in the 21^st Century. Ghost’s clergy, Bring Me The Horizon's ascension to arenas, even Sleep Token’s global takeover are ripples in the pond to the explosion of emo in the mid-2000s. All of which is to say, MCR headlining Sonic Temple is a Big Deal.

Performing The Black Parade in its entirety, My Chemical Romance put on the kind of massive spectacle that underscores the fact they’re the most important rock band since Nirvana or Oasis, their cultural footprint obvious in the sheer number of classic, Myspace-era emo getups spotted around the Historic Crew Stadium (although bright-coloured fringes remain in short supply).

A big, communist-coded propaganda video plays as soldiers wheel out a decrepit dictator dummy to signal the start of the set. The show plays out like a funeral for 20^th Century culture, the band somehow managing to blend Broadway, Hollywood and stadium-sized pop production, each song greeted with religious fervour.

From the Queen pomp of Welcome To The Black Parade to the T-Rex aping shuffle of Teenagers, My Chem expand the boundaries of emo to almost ludicrous levels. Each song seems to come with ever-grander production – cellos, opera singers, and even the stage bursting into flames, complete with a blazing man sprinting across. It all leads to the bloody execution of Gerard Way as he’s stabbed to death by a monochrome clown, who promptly blows himself up.

The final cherry on the cake is a punky encore. Kicking off with I’m Not Okay, MCR drop the theatrics and go for broke with sweaty, frantic energy. Even without the adornments of their previous set, they’re utterly magnetic to behold and the atmosphere in the stadium is electric as Na Na Na and Vampire Money fly by. Finally, Helena sends the crowd screaming into the night. It might be fuelled by nostalgia tonight, but this set shows MCR still have the magic to do something truly massive in future.