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Archive for the ‘Thursday’ Category

My Chemical Romance (MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ, August 9, 2025)

Posted in Death Cab For Cutie, East Rutherford, NJ, MetLife Stadium, My Chemical Romance, Set in New Jersey!, Thursday on August 11, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 9, 2025] My Chemical Romance

My son, his friend and I saw My Chemical Romance in 2022 for their reunion tour.  It was super fun and it was especially fun that we were in the band’s home state.

The Black Parade has always been my favorite MCR record, so when they announced this tour of The Black Parade, I was psyched and so was the rest of my family.  So I bought five tickets.  Sadly, I had to buy five individual seats–all in the same section, but each one a row behind the other.  But that didn’t matter once the show started.

They opened with a tape of 76 Trombones which was fun and weird and then a drummer came out playing a martial beat while the anthem from Draag was played.  Now I hadn’t read any reviews of the show at all, so I had no idea that they were going to play the album in this way.  And I was absolutely blown away by the creative genius of the MCR team.  They took a concept album/rock opera which already had a story and superimposed an entirely new story with videos and other performers on stage.

It was amazing.  And there’s no way I can do it justice.

I can’t possibly explain the new story.  Summarized: The country of Draag is run by a dictator.  There were videos of Draag as well as warnings and alerts in Draagian and English (Do not throw hair).  The dictator was introduced and on the big screens around the stadium, we could see the dictators hands as he gently clapped or ate noodles.

The band were dressed in their Black Parade outfits and then launched into the album.  When we saw them play in 2022, they played three songs from the album, so it was wonderful to hear the entire thing.  And they had backing singers and strings added to the show. It was really a huge sound.  Ray Toro on guitar was shredding like a maniac and the smile on his face was contagious. (more…)

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Death Cab for Cutie (Met Life Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ, August 9, 2025) [MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE]

Posted in Death Cab For Cutie, East Rutherford, NJ, MetLife Stadium, My Chemical Romance, Set in New Jersey!, Thursday on August 10, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 9, 2025] Death Cab for Cutie

When these MCR shows were announced, we had the choice of going to MetLife (which I haven’t been to in decades, before this new stadium in fact) or Wells Fargo in Philly, which I have grown to like a little more in the last year.

But then there was the choice of opening acts–Death Cab for Cutie in NJ or …Alice Cooper [?!] in Philly.  That made the decision so much easier, because there’s no way I would pass up DCFC for Alice Cooper [althouh having seen a recent setlist by Alice, his set is probably fun).

DCFC seems like an odd choice as an opening band.  They’re not bigger than MCR I wouldn’t think, but they sell out their own huge shows pretty easily.  It turns out though that DCFC are on tour and were playing four nights in Brooklyn right around this show.  So, heck, why not play this massive show?  And the crowd seemed really really into them.

My wife and I have seen Death Cab for Cutie four times now.  Their shows are always good–great music, great frontman, and a lot of fun.  This show proved to be something of a greatest hits set, at least greatest for me.  (more…)

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Thursday (Met Life Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ, August 9, 2025) [MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE]

Posted in My Chemical Romance, Newark, NJ, Prudential Center, Set in New Jersey!, The Homeless Gospel Choir, Thursday on August 9, 2025| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 20, 2022] Thursday [rescheduled from September 22, 2020 and September 21, 2021]

This was my first show at this stadium since I saw The Cure back in 1989 (my only time there aside from some football games) when it was a different building called Giants Stadium (since demolished).

Online recommendations said to park at Redd’s a restaurant nearby in Carlstadt that offered parking and shuttle service for a reasonable price.  So we did that.  Despite leaving plenty early (I assumed), the traffic and the shuttle (which was great) plopped us down with a little time to spare.  By the time we got to our floor, Thursday had already started.

The super nice folks at the arena encouraged me to get handicapped seating (once they saw the cane) and while it took a few minutes to coordinate, it turned out to be a great option–folding chairs on a open platform instead of squeezing into seats a few rows back.

But by the time we got settled, Thursday was about half way through the set.

Thursday had opened for MCR back in 2022 when we saw them.  It was the first time I’d heard of them.  Since that show I saw singer Geoff Rickly solo at Underground Arts and grew more appreciative of Thursday.  So I was a little bummed to be unfocused during their set.

Rickly was a great frontman–singing his heart out and being wonderfully vulnerable (his solo set showed off just how much he’s been through).  His best joke of the night was saying that they got to play MetLife stadium before MCR did!  The bands go way back together and last time Gerard Way sang a song with them (not this time though). (more…)

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L.S. Dunes (Santander Arena, Reading, PA, November 25, 2023) [PIERCE THE VEIL]

Posted in Coheed & Cambria, Dayseeker, Destroy Boys, L.S. Dunes, My Chemical Romance, Pierce the Veil, Thursday on November 28, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: November 25, 2023] L.S. Dunes

L.S. Dunes is like an emo supergroup.  The five guys in the band are each from at least one other well-known band.

Frank Iero (guitar) is from My Chemical Romance.  Travis Stever (guitar) is from Coheed & Cambria.  Tim Payne (bass) and Tucker Rule (drums) are from Thursday and singer Anthony Green is from Circa: Survive and a bunch of other bands.  Circa Survive is the only band I didn’t know, so I had a sense of what they sounded like–but not their vocalist.  Actually, I heard him sing a song with Thursday when we saw them open for MCR, but I don’t remember it.

This band started during the pandemic, with the various guys sending tapes back and forth to each other.  They’re all from roughly the east coast, (NJ, NY, PA) which is kind of cool for those of us on the east coast.

When the band came out they sounded so much bigger than Dayseeker.  I don’t know if it’s because the opening bands played via a less sophisticated sound system or what, but L.S. Dunes’ music filled  the arena in a way that Dayseeker didn’t.

The music was interesting and complex.  And singer Green hit high notes and growled alternately.

When I was at the merch table, the guy selling L.S. Dunes merch said sometimes the best first exposure to a band is live.  I agree with that sentiment although I think this particular first exposure wasn’t ideal because we were so far away and the lights weren’t great and, despite me saying how full the sound was, it still sounded a little rough (too loud maybe?)

Regardless, I really enjoyed the set and look forward to seeing them again in a smaller venue where I can really appreciate what they’re doing.

  1. Permanent Rebellion ♠
  2. Bombsquad ♠
  3. Like Forever ♠
  4. Grey Veins ♠
  5. Benadryl Subreddit ∇
  6. It Takes Time ♠
  7. Grifter ♠
  8. Past Lives ♠
  9. 2022 ♠
  10. Old Wounds ∇

∇ single (2023)
♠ Past Lives (2022)

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Sparta : Wiretap Scars 20th Celebration Tour (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 1, 2023)

Posted in Geoff Rickley, Philadelphia, PA, Sparta, Thursday, Underground Arts, Venezuela, Zeta on August 3, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 1, 2023] Sparta

Since 2020 I have had four opportunities to see Sparta. Two were cancelled because of the pandemic.  One saw them opening for Get Up Kids (a show I was interested in, but not enough to go) and now this one.  And while those two cancelled shows were probably good, seeing them for this one was undoubtedly better.

Sparta formed out of the breakup of At the Drive-In (Mars Volta was also formed from that breakup).  Sparta sounded more like ATDI because the songs were short and punky, even though Cedric the lead singer went on to Mars Volta.  Guitarist Jim Ward sings lead on Sparta songs and his voice is unique and sounds just as great as it did when Wiretap Scars came out twenty years ago.

The band came out–a trio now–with Matt Miller on bass and Neil Hennessy on drums. Jim Ward stood on the far side of the stage (not too far away) and the band launched into the album.

It was great to hear these songs live.  I hadn’t listened to the album in quite awhile, although I did listen to it a week ago to refamiliarize myself.  And I remembered how much i loved at least half of the album.  And the rest I enjoyed.  Hearing (and feeling) the guitar riffs and the excellent bass lines was fantastic.

The crowd wasn’t as dense as I would have thought and there was surprisingly, no mosh pit (which I appreciated).

The whole album sounded great–fresh and new and really great live. (more…)

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Geoff Rickly (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 1, 2023) [SPARTA]

Posted in Geoff Rickley, Philadelphia, PA, Sparta, Thursday, Underground Arts, Venezuela, Zeta on August 2, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 1, 2023] Geoff Rickly

Geoff Rickly is the singer for Thursday, a band from New Jersey who I had never even heard of when I saw them open for My Chemical Romance last year.

I wasn’t really looking forward to his set (I would have missed this one if he was first), because I didn’t love the Thursday set.  It was fine and I may have liked it more if I was closer.  But it was fine.

However, as a solo performer, Rickly was fantastic.  He told little stories before each song.  He said that since Thursday torued with Sparta 20 years ago, he was going to play mostly Thursday songs (instead of his solo songs).

I didn’t know any of them, and at first I didn’t think the set would be that enjoyable, but he put so much passion into his singing that “Time’s Arrow” blew me away.  He had lots of fans in the audience who knew all the words and it was fun to hear them singing along.

He told us about a lawsuit that the band faced back ten years ago or so that cost them $100,000 which they did not have.  So they wound up doing a lot more shows to make some money.  They even did an “emo cruise.”  He said that he had written a solo osng which he thought was perfect and after the show the Captain of the theater told him to never play that song on a ship again. (more…)

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Zeta (Underground Arts, Philadelphia, PA, August 1, 2023) [SPARTA]

Posted in Geoff Rickley, Philadelphia, PA, Sparta, Thursday, Underground Arts, Venezuela, Zeta on August 1, 2023| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: August 1, 2023] Zeta

Zeta (pronounced Zeh-tuh) is a band “of immigrants from Venezuela” as they put it.  They are now based in the U.S. trying to deal with the immigration deal.

I had listened to a little of their music before the show and I was absolutely intrigued.  I arrived just before 7:30 but they had already started by the time I came in.  I don’t think I missed too much, but as I got to the stage, the band was in full flight.

There were four members of the band.  As I walked in Juan Chi (Juan Ricardo Yilo) was whaling lead guitar and singing.  Right in the front of the stage was drummer Eduardo Sandoval.  He was front and center because this is a band that loves drums.

The wall of sound was really loud, but not harsh.  Sandoval was a maniac on the kit–it was amazing to have such a fun drummer right in the front of the stage.  Standing behind him was bassist Antonio Pereira.  Pereira was the one constant through the set–his bass was fast and steady keeping the song moving forward and also keeping it in perfect time.  He kept everybody moving. (more…)

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Thursday (Prudential Center, Newark, NJ, September 20, 2022) [MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE] [rescheduled date, rescheduled again]

Posted in My Chemical Romance, Newark, NJ, Prudential Center, Set in New Jersey!, The Homeless Gospel Choir, Thursday on September 20, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[ATTENDED: September 20, 2022] Thursday [rescheduled from September 22, 2020 and September 21, 2021]

I bought tickets to this show for myself, my son and his friend on January 31, 2020,  The boys were freshmen at the time.  Now, after two rescheduled shows, the boys are seniors and were still excited about this reunion.  (Even though they were too young to know about them the last time MCR played in NJ).

There were two opening bands, but our parking nightmares (oh Newark) made us miss The Homeless Gospel Choir, a folk/punk band from Pittsburgh who I was interested in checking out.

For our show (a second show was later added with a different opening band) Thursday opened.  Thursday is a band from New Brunswick, NJ.  They are an emo band that predates My Chemical Romance and somehow I had never heard of them.

I’m surprised I’d never heard of them.  Turns out they broke up in 2012.  They got back together in 2016 and toured a bunch then.  They started touring again after COVID.

It was interesting hearing their earlier stuff is far more emo.  “Cross Out the Eyes” had a soaring emo chorus and also some screamed backing vocals. (more…)

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