20 Years Ago: My Chemical Romance Plays Tiny Club Show in Portland, Maine

You may have found yourself among the lucky few who get to see an amphitheater-level band in a small club before they break out and become huge mainstream stars.

Well, about 200 people got to do just that 20 years ago. On December 15, 2004, WCYY welcomed My Chemical Romance to our annual Holiday Bizarre, and it was nothing short of iconic. Local bands Animal Suit Driveby and Bayside opened the show. People were willing to do just about anything to get through the doors for this one. At the time, the band was riding high on the success of their breakthrough album, Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge—just two years before being catapulted into global stardom with The Black Parade.

This show was everything an emo/punk kid could dream of. Their favorite musicians were just feet away, while the crowd screamed along to every word. The Big Easy (now Oddfellahs Sportsbook and Bar), as you may recall, was an intimate venue with a small stage. But Gerard Way and the rest of the MCR guys didn’t let that phase them. They performed with the same intensity they would bring to a large venue, turning the tiny space into a sweaty, electric madhouse.

It was, without a doubt, a show for the books. Although the band hasn’t been super active in recent years, they’ve scheduled a handful of dates for next summer, including a headlining show at Fenway Park on September 7th.

From the small club in Portland formerly known as the Big Easy to one of the biggest venues in New England, a pretty solid climb to the top for My Chemical Romance and a pretty amazing experience for fans that were able to squeeze into the Big Easy 20 years ago for this memorable show that people still talk about to this day.