The Newly Reunited My Chemical Romance Is Heading to Australia for Download Festival 2020
Grab your eyeliner and prepare to relive your teenage emo years.
UPDATE: MARCH 13, 2020 — Due to the current global situation surrounding COVID-19, My Chemical Romance has decided to postpone their trip Down Under. And, as a result, Download has cancelled its Sydney and Melbourne festivals. Ticket holders will receive a full refund — including booking and payment processing fees — and organisers are currently working with My Chemical Romance and Deftones to schedule separate headline shows in 2020. We'll let you know when these are announced. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in Australia and how to protect yourself, head to the Australian Government Department of Health's website.
The black parade is coming back to Australia, with the freshly reunited My Chemical Romance heading to Sydney and Melbourne for the 2020 Download Festival. The US group went its separate ways in 2013, but it seems you just can't keep this 00s emo outfit apart. Just last week, MCR announced that they're literally getting the band back together, and, after selling out their first reunion gig in Los Angeles quick smart, they're taking the show on the road.
If you're keen relive your angsty emo teenage years and catch Gerard Way and co eight years after they last came to our shores for the 2012 Big Day Out, you'll need to head to the aforementioned festival — MCR aren't doing any sideshows on this tour. But, when Download hits Melbourne's Flemington Showgrounds on Friday, March 20 and Sydney's Parramatta Park on Saturday, March 21, the headliners will have plenty of support, including a heap of other rock and heavy metal standouts from the past few decades.
They include Deftones, Jimmy Eat World, Clutch and Ministry — aka some heavy hitters in the worlds of alternative metal, punk-influenced rock, hard rock and industrial metal. Those keen on melodic metal will want to flock to Sweden's In Flames, while Scotland's Alestorm will get silly with pirate metal (yes, that's a thing), and Italy's Lacuna Coil will play their brand of rhythmic metal. And, no matter your tastes, Mongolia's The HU promise something you probably haven't seen before: hard rock combined with traditional Mongolian throat singing.
Basically, if it's a type of rock or metal (of the musical kind), you'll find it on Download's lineup. Testament, Carcass, Baroness, New Year's Day and Venom Prism help round out the overseas contingent, while Australia is represented by local punk legends Bodyjar, plus Hands Like Houses, In Hearts Wake, Ne Obliviscaris and Clowns
DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL 2020 FIRST LINEUP ANNOUNCEMENT
My Chemical Romance (only Aus shows)
Deftones
Jimmy Eat World
Clutch (only Aus shows)
Ministry
In Flames
Testament
Alestorm (only Aus shows)
Carcass
Lacuna Coil (only Aus shows)
Hands Like Houses
In Hearts Wake
The HU
Baroness
Ne Obliviscaris
Bodyjar
New Years Day
Clowns
Venom Prison
SKYND
Thornhill
Disentomb
Stand Atlantic
Plini
RedHook
Dregg
Download 202o was scheduled to hit Melbourne's Flemington Showgrounds on Friday, March 20 and Sydney's Parramatta Park on Saturday, March 21.
Top image: My Chemical Romance performing by NBSTwo via Flickr