Violet Sullivan
Connector Contributor

A year and a half after the break up of My Chemical Romance, lead singer Gerard Way finally started his solo career with the release of “Hesitant Alien.” Stripping away the emo and pop-punk sound, “Hesitant Alien” is inspired by his love of Britpop, which includes bands such as Blur, Suede and Oasis. Along with this new album came a new tour, where he made his way to the Paradise Rock Club in Boston.

Opening for Gerard Way and his backing band The Hormones were The Eeries, a new alt-rock four-piece from Los Angeles who blew the crowd away. The show consisted of a crowd that was 95 percent hardcore fans of Way who had never heard of this little band from Los Angeles, but everyone was still singing along. If someone had walked into the venue not knowing who was playing that night, they would have thought  The Eeries were the headlining band.

The atmosphere The Eeries had established intensified once The Hormones took the stage; the crowd surged forward and seemed to explode when Way appeared. Taking his place in the front of the stage, he immediately seized control of the crowd and never lost it. Jumping, waving and singing, the crowd was under his complete control.

Starting the show with “The Bureau” and going nonstop into “Action Cat,” it was as if Way had not taken a year and a half hiatus from performing. A notable point during the show was just before “Drugstore Perfume,” where he asked the crowd if any of them had felt like leaving home to move onto something greater, which showed an abundance of hands as he expressed his nervousness for his young daughter. This led into an inspiring feminist speech for all the women in the room that the old white men in the higher-ups are afraid of them, and that they are powerful and deserve to be feared.

He performed the entirety of “Hesitant Alien,” including the Japan-only released track, “Television All the Time;” a stripped down, piano-heavy cover of “The Water is Wide (O Waly, Waly)” and the closing song “Snakedriver,” a Jesus and Mary Chain cover.

At the insistence of the crowd chanting “one more song,” Way made his way back onto the stage, saying that he knew by the middle of the show that he was going to come back out and play for them again. He performed an unreleased track, “Dasher,” a song about a girl who fell in love with a reindeer.

The show ended just like the show started: buzzing. If you’re looking for a high-energy show that leaves you like that from the beginning to the end, I highly recommend catching Way when he comes to your city. Unfortunately, the band is currently on break from touring, but they will be returning with a European stint, kicking it off in Portugal come January.