My Chemical Romance is back, and fans and critics love it. NJ band coming home in Sept.

Allow Gerard Way to reintroduce himself.

“How have the past two and a half years been for you?” said Way, frontman for My Chemical Romance at the New Jersey band's show in Cornwall, U.K., on Monday, May 16.

Critics liked what they heard.

“The years melt away,” said the Guardian of the May 16 show. “Way is in command of the mic: spidery-fingered and snake-hipped, his emo scream is at full throttle.”

“They’re now safely one of the biggest rock groups to emerge in the last 20 years but if the band are worried about their new found status, they don’t show it,” said New Musical Express. “Tonight’s show is fearless, loose and raw. It genuinely feels like anything could happen, as My Chemical Romance channel punk rebellion and playful ambition.”

My Chemical Romance is back on tour. They come to New Jersey in September.
My Chemical Romance is back on tour. They come to New Jersey in September.

The show was an “amazing night” from an “amazing band,” said Kerrang!.

MCR eschewed their elaborate stage wear of previous tours for T-shirts and cloth jackets. The audience skewed younger than one would expect from a band that was formed 20 years ago.

The group just dropped their first single in a decade, “The Foundations of Decay,” on May 13. It's a big message framed by a big musical build-up. What's next? Reports spotted merch for a My Chem project called “Swarm” at the May 16 show.

Way, brother Mikey Way, Frank Iero and Ray Toro formed the band in Belleville. Early gigs were played at the former Loop Lounge in Passaic. Their 2006 album, “The Black Parade,” debuted at No. 2 on Billboard's album chart.

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The band played a reunion show on Dec. 20, 2020, at the Shrine Expo Hall in Los Angeles. Their last show before breaking up was in 2012 at the Bamboozle Festival in Asbury Park.

Locally, the band plays Aug. 29 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia; Sept. 10 and 11 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn; and homecoming shows Sept. 20 and 21 at the Prudential Center in Newark.

Setlist follows gallery

My Chemical Romance May 16 setlist

The Foundations of Decay

Helena

Give 'Em Hell Kid

Make Room!!!!

Summertime

This Is How I Disappear

You Know What They Do To Guys Like Us In Prison

Na Na Na (Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na Na)

Famous Last Words

Surrender The Night

Teenagers

I Don't Love You

Destroya

Our Lady Of Sorrows

Vampire Money

Thank You For The Venom

Mama

Welcome To The Black Parade

Sleep

Boy Division

I'm Not Okay (I Promise)

The Kids From Yesterday

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Chris Jordan, a Jersey Shore native, covers entertainment and features for the USA Today Network New Jersey. Contact him at @chrisfhjordan; cjordan@app.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: My Chemical Romance begins touring after hiatus, comes to NJ September