My Chemical Romance [The Meadows Dodge Auditorium, Hartford, Conn.] 24 Feb 2007

There's a few constants in the world -- one is that morons with CT licenses don't know how to drive. The other constant is that I always get lost in Hartford, without fail. We ended up in the deeeeep end of Hartford, because I'm awesome like that, but luckily found a 5-0 at a gas station who then proceeded to give us a police escort. No, I am not joking. Amazing. Love the po'!

Finally got parked (for free!), scooted inside, found Darling Girl and got our passes. Had a beer, and finally found our seats. The Meadows is a strange indoor venue (during the summer, it's an ampitheatre), and it feels like a high school auditorium, but bigger. There are also crazy primary colors all over the walls, which clashed appropriately with My Chem's black-and-white set. Again, missed the opener. So sad. Right.

The Black Parade came out, and they were immediately better than the first night of the tour in Manchvegas. However, our very small section of people would not stand up. It was bizarre. I relaxed for a while, but when they were wrapping up with "Famous Last Words," I grabbed the kids sitting next to us and was like, "Let's jam!" I also turned around and made everyone stand up. Dear Girl commented, "You're not even drunk!" I was just feeling the need to jam, whatever! Thankfully everyone stayed up for the MCR set, and Gerard also managed to really bring the punk with some of the early tracks. Cute Kid next to us actually said, "It's like he's drunk again!" Terrible! But, well, I understand what she was trying to say. I really hope that he can keep his edge on stage and keep his body sober. They were much tighter even with the older stuff, and Gerard really opened up and started in on the screaming and such. I'll be interested to see how the show matures when they come back in May with Muse.

We stuck around with Darling Girl to meet the band, and I seriously think I was the oldest person there. Well, next to Darling Girl and Gerard. Hah! The band took time with each and every fan, and shook hands and did hugs and signed things. I called Gerard out for his homage to the John Waters' classic Female Trouble in Manchester (He did the bit about the cha-cha shoes at the end of "Mama."), and he was completely shocked and grateful that someone got it. Because I'm lame, I felt fairly proud of this -- he signed my flat with "Thanks for noticing." Aw, bless. He stood up and made to hug me, which was kind of...cute, but then he was like, "High five!" There was a moment I thought maybe I should tell him that I was his age (almost 30, for sure), but I just decided to high five him back. I don't think I've high-fived someone since I was, like, 14. The things I do for boys in bands.

Then they were doing a group photo, and honestly, there is no way in hell I was going to be on a radio website with a bunch of tweenies, for serious. So we bounced, and hiked all the way back to Boston. Hartford, I love your free parking and your surprisingly helpful cops, but, seriously, there is no city but Boston.

Also, I really enjoy concert moms. There was one behind us that was rocking harder than her kids. Hopefully, I can be half as cool as she was when I grow up!