New Brunswick, NJ pop punks Midtown originally broke up in 2005, and then briefly reunited in 2014 for the Skate and Surf festival in Asbury Park and a secret show at Knitting Factory Brooklyn, and now they've announced another reunion. This time, they'll be opening for another reunited band who started out in the same NJ basement scene as Midtown: My Chemical Romance. They'll open five dates on My Chem's long-awaited reunion tour, including the show in their shared home state on September 21 at Prudential Center (also with The Homeless Gospel Choir) and a newly-added LA show happening on October 17 at The Forum. They also join them in Florida and Texas. Full schedule below.
After run with MCR, Midtown will do a hometown-area headlining show on December 2 at Starland Ballroom. Tickets for that show go on sale Friday (3/11) at 10 AM.
Speaking about the reunion, frontman Gabe Saporta (later of Cobra Starship) said:
In the early 2010’s people suddenly started taking an interest in Midtown again. This culminated with us reuniting for the 2014 Bamboozle fest.
It was an amazing experience, but our only regret is that our kids were either not born yet, or not old enough to come to the show. As our kids grew up and started searching for their old man’s videos on YouTube, we talked about how great it would be for them to see their dads take the stage once more before getting too old.
Initially we were working towards launching a project we’d been kicking around for quite some time: Man Band, a dance-focused group featuring us in matching Baby Bjorns. Mikey Way caught wind of our plan, but suggested that instead of perfecting our choreography, we simply reunite Midtown to join My Chem on a few shows this summer.
In all seriousness, we’re super humbled and grateful for the opportunity, and couldn’t think of a more perfect reason to come back together. My Chem and Midtown grew up in the same scene, and it’s beautiful that after all these years, My Chem still care about showing love to where they came from. On a personal level, I think the kids of the Midtown members might see us playing these huge arenas and get the erroneous impression that we’re way more important than we actually are. But at the end of the day maybe it's good for our kids to think their dad actually is a super hero, instead of just some dude running around the house in his underwear.
Midtown released three albums during their initial run, including two Mark Trombino-produced LPs for Drive-Thru (2000's Save the World, Lose the Girl and 2002's Living Well is the Best Revenge), before putting out their Butch Walker-produced Forget What You Know on Columbia in 2004, as well as a few EPs/splits. Watch some classic videos below.
My Chemical Romance also expanded their tour, including newly-added NYC-area shows August 27 at UBS Arena in Belmont Park with The Bouncing Souls and Ghosh and September 10 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn with Thursday. Tickets for those shows go on sale Friday (3/11) at noon. Their previously announced NY/NJ shows also include Barclays Center on September 11 with Thursday and Prudential Center on September 20 with Thursday and The Homeless Gospel Choir. All dates here.
shows at Barclays Center on September 11 and Prudential Center on September 20.
Midtown -- 2022 Tour Dates 9/21 – Newark, NJ @ Prudential Center* 9/24 – Sunrise, FL @ BB&T Center* 9/27 – Houston, TX @ Toyota Center* 9/28 – Dallas, TX @ American Airlines Center* 10/17 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Forum* 12/2 – Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom