My Chemical Romance experiments in Denver

Neon Trees and The Architects start the night off right

Denver was the setting for My Chemical Romance singer Gerard Way's 34th birthday party Saturday night. The guest list included the rest of his band, plenty of security and about 4,000 screaming fans.

Way didn't seem to bummed about having to work on his special day. The newly svelte rocker set things off with "Na Na Na," the semi-coherent lead single for MCR's new album "Danger Days: The True Lives of the Fabulous Killjoys" and spent the rest of the night caroming from sci-fi synth pop to doom rock to old punk covers (The Damned got a nice shout-out). No one can accuse MCR of discovering new continents of sound, but for those simply looking for a fun-ass rock show, the New Jersey band delivered the goods in spades.

Openers The Architects rocked their pop-punk hearts out in spite of their early slot, while middle act Neon Trees showed why they're the indie buzz band to beat this year. They had the crowd eating out of their collective hand long before they got to their Billboard hit "Animal." — Matt Farley, Metromix          

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