MANILA, Philippines - The sound was so loud we had to cup our ears?as the Malaysian band Popshuvit, with Slapshock?s Jamir Garcia jamming on vocals, warmed up the crowd at My Chemical Romance?s Friday night concert at the Fort Bonifacio Open Field.

At intermission, as the house music played a mix of Green Day, The Animals and Pink Floyd, we noticed something very curious about the crowd. Beside us sat a boy, probably a teenager, with somebody who might be his father. We were astonished when, asked if he was a high school student, the boy answered, ?I?m in grade six.? His father winked and said, ?I?m 40. We?ve been watching concerts together.?

As we looked around, it became apparent that this was quite unlike the Fall Out Boy gig where many folks waited outside as their kids rocked at the Araneta Coliseum. This time, the whole family was here to party.

Punk-metal assault

And what a raucous party it was. MCR opened with the punk-metal assault of ?This Is How I Disappear,? one of many tracks the band would play from its third album, ?Welcome to the Black Parade? (Warner Music).

At age 30, vocalist Gerard Way?dressed in black from head to toe with matching eyeliner ?looked like he had baby fat that he wanted to shed. He urged the roaring crowd to move as he did, jumping up and down, like the pogo dance identified with the late Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols.

For a few moments, many followed suit, doing the pogo as the band went full blast with ?Dead!? It seemed like MCR was very much inspired by Green Day and other punk bands?except that lead guitarist Ray Toro, frizzy hair flailing like a headbanger?s, was striking his axe to sound like Metallica.

Breakneck

The rhythm went on at breakneck speed, with two girls behind us screaming out the lyrics. For a second, we thought it was drizzling, but assumed it must?ve been a sprinkling of saliva from their direction.

As we turned our head, another boy was pumping his arms in the air. We asked how young he was, and since he figured he couldn?t be heard from above the noise, he just showed us ... eight fingers!

A few feet away, we espied a third boy, standing on his chair and looking no older than five. Beside him was his mother, who seemed to be asking her husband if Way was gay?because at that point, the singer was stroking his hair and prancing around effeminately.

We decided he was just being Jagger-esque, only Way moved more slowly than Mick does.

MCR?s vaudeville approach to ?Mama,? which began with a martial band cadence, gave respite to our eardrums. But the song erupted in a grandiose climax, much like Queen circa ?Bohemian Rhapsody.?

Ecstatic

The martial beat was heard again in ?The Black Parade,? whose chorus (?We?ll carry on...?) was echoed by a throng of ecstatic teenage girls to our left. One of them said, ?I?m 16 and so are my friends here.?

?You saved my life,? a home-made poster proclaimed, held by another girl in the front row. If this were true, then the deafening sound and fury couldn?t be in vain. But Way had a tendency to pepper his spiels with cuss words that, no matter how commonplace, made us feel uncomfortable and could have sent wrong signals to a lot of young people that night.

One song captured the underlying themes of MCR?s music. ?Teenagers!? one of the girls hollered, referring to the title as we nodded in embarrassment.

With one last look at the flushed faces of father and son beside us, one thing was clear: MCR had shattered the local age barrier for rock concerts.