Watch My Chemical Romance perform cult favourite ‘Sister To Sleep’ for second time in their history
When the news broke back in May that My Chemical Romance had returned with them dropping their first single since 2014, fans were over the moon, as it seemed like the quartet were capturing the form that had first catapulted them to stardom in the noughties. A consistently exciting band, they delivered another surprise on Monday when they performed a cut that only their most diehard fans will know.
On Monday evening (October 17th), the emo legends concluded their five-night run at the Kia Forum in Inglewood, California. There, many were shocked as the band tore through ‘Sister To Sleep’ a track that they’d only ever performed once live and never released in an official format.
It was written during the recording sessions for the band’s second album, 2004’s Three Cheers For Sweet Revenge. Then, the only time they performed it was back on June 26th, 2003, at an intimate show in New York City.
The only known recording of the song is a low-quality bootleg from that New York show, and it quickly became a fan favourite after making its way onto the internet. Since then, it has become a cult moment in the band’s history. Interestingly, although a studio recording has never been released, there is one in existence, with a short snippet leaking on Tumblr in 2013, not long after the group initially called it a day.
Speaking to WSOU in 2003, the band’s enigmatic frontman, Gerard Way, revealed that ‘Sister To Sleep’ was based on Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman. “It’s about sleep deprivation, being in an institute for that,” The Umbrella Academy creator said, “and not being able to sleep. And then people trying to make you sleep, but if you go to sleep, you’re going to die – and you know it, so you’re trying not to.”
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