MCR Fans are you ready for The Return?

2019 has been an eventful year for fans of pop-punk: Fall Out Boy, Green Day, and Weezer have announced a joint tour; Blink-182 has released a new album, numerous artists are on tour; but perhaps the most surprising news was announced on Halloween. After their breakup in 2013, My Chemical Romance repeatedly denied that a reunion would ever take place. Each of the former members had begun working on solo projects, including music, comics, and a Netflix series, so fans had begun to give up hope that they would ever see anything more from the emo powerhouse. However, they received good news on October 31, 2019, when each member posted a rather cryptic photo with the band account tagged, later using the official band account to confirm their reunion with the announcement of a single show in California this December. They also confirmed that they will be playing at two festivals, one in Australia and one in New Zealand. There have been no additional confirmed dates at this time.

This news took fans by surprise, since it seemed to come out of thin air. None of the members posted ahead of time to suggest that anything out of the ordinary was happening, and no information had been leaked or discussed that would lead the public to believe that a plan for a reunion was in the works.
The band had built and maintained a sizable fanbase despite the fact that they had not released any new content over the course of the past three years (with the exception of a moderately well received rereleased album that included demos and unreleased tracks). With songs like “Welcome to the Black Parade,” “Teenagers,” “Sing,” “I’m Not Okay (I Promise)” and many others, My Chemical Romance was certainly one of the most influential bands in their genre throughout the 2000’s and early 2010’s. Fans were understandably devastated when they announced their breakup in March of 2013, with the members citing personal struggles, feeling overwhelmed, and needing to take time to focus on their families. Since then, they have each remained in the public eye to some degree, each releasing at least one solo album (with the exception of guitarist Frank Iero, who has been involved in several bands since then), but this will be their first time playing as a group again since their breakup. While no plans for a new album have been announced, their cryptic captions and imagery have fans speculating over what they may do next. Only time will tell which theories come to fruition.