"Cheap, used romantics"

In terms of art culture, Buffalo's neighbor, Niagara Falls, is like the shady and culturally deprived next-door-neighbor who never leaves his basement. From his hermitage, there's always a strange thumping of outdated techno beats, and through his poorly draped front window, his nightly dosage of satellite porn is there for the neighborhood to see.

Though Buffalo isn't the rock 'n' roll capital of the world, the city can attest to luring musical icons like Springsteen, U2 and Pearl Jam to town. Tuesday night, Niagara Falls invited My Chemical Romance and The Used, along with 11 MTV cameras, into The Dome Theatre to show the city a bit of culture, MTV-style.

The event was part of the "2$ Bill" concert series. The tickets, believe it or not, were $2. The show sold out shortly after it was announced last week, leaving many fans to pay exorbitant amounts, some for more than $70 apiece on eBay.com, for scalped tickets.

My Chemical Romance, a punk rock band laced with elements of screamo, opened the show with "I'm Not Okay," a song from their new album "Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge."

Only the front five rows of the mass appeared to be into the music while the remainder of the sold-out audience dawdled around in anticipation of The Used - the headliner for the evening.

My Chemical Romance vocalist Gerard Way looked like Brandon Lee from "The Crow" with a Zorro mask. The rest of the band, though collectively gothic and alternative, had suspiciously unique outfits and hairstyles compared to one another. They were like The Village People, but from a village inhabited by dominatrixes.

Unfortunately, their music wasn't quite as varied as their hair.

The songs follow a fixed formula. The vocalist's soft and articulate singing, accompanied with an equally melodious instrumental harmony is abruptly transformed by a loud, throaty scream, and is followed by instrumental chaos and indecipherable lyrics. This pattern was repeated throughout the night.

Vocalist Gerald Way broke up the monotony with a few adlibbed remarks to the audience in between songs.

"How many of you have been to the klank? And when I say the klank, I mean jail," Way asked.

Later in the evening Way addressed the ladies and reassured those who may have experienced an unplanned pregnancy.

"How many ladies have we got in the house tonight? How many ladies have we got that have been knocked up?"

After hearing scattered cries from a few females, Way added, "There's nothing to be ashamed of."

When The Used took the stage they were welcomed with exuberant applause and enthusiasm.

"How you doing Buffalo," yelled Used vocalist, Bert McCracken, to a throng of pumped up but confused Niagara Falls fans.

"Did you come here to see the f***en Used play? Well, just in case you didn't know - we are the f***en Used!"

At least he got something right.

Though The Used carried the same repetitious formula into their songs, they had an electrifying on-stage presence that jolted the audience into frenzy.

The Used's guitarist, Quinn Allman, appeared in need of an exorcist as his body jumped and flailed epileptically while pounding away on his guitar.

Periodic crowd surfers, exemplary of the newly injected energy pumped into the audience, enjoyed their wave until bouncers fished them out and manhandled them like 60s-era civil disobedients.

After a meager number of songs for any typical music venue, My Chemical Romance joined The Used to play a one-song encore of David Bowie's "Under Pressure." It seemed like more of a photo-op for the two bands than a crowd-pleasing conclusion.

Niagara Falls High School student Candice Limburner differed in opinion.

"It was awesome. The ending with two bands was the greatest part," she said.

Their constant bombings of "F" and their volatile lyrics struck a note with the young crowd. Such music may be better suited for an anarchistic high school audience than the more seasoned musical tastes of a college crowd.

Though the music lacked talented vocals and innovative instrumentals, they made up for it with energy, which propped up the show's entertainment value.

But MTV's presence gave the show an artificial aroma. The encore was weak, the crowd was controlled, and the bands may have been more concerned with how they looked on camera than pleasing the fans.

After the show, a die-hard cluster of fans chanted "one more song, one more song."

McCracken, of The Used, came out to a reinvigorated crowd only to yell, "Sike!" and then added, "Thank you very much Buffalo!"

You're a cruel man, Bert McCracken. A cruel man who needs to get his facts straight.

Though the performances fell short of spectacular, at least Niagara Falls got its money's worth.