After being a fan for over 7 years, it finally happened: I saw Twenty One Pilots in concert.
Naturally, as a fan of the duo, I had seen videos online of their concerts and already knew they were great performers, but this show exceeded all expectations. Calling it a concert is an understatement; this was an experience.
As the clock neared 8:50 PM, the house lights shut off and the arena erupted into cheers as fans anxiously awaited the duo’s arrival. Suddenly on the jumbotron appeared a video of the pair wearing ski masks amidst a blizzard, where a blue door appears. The door suddenly flies above them, and they reach for the knob. As they open the door, a spotlight hits a door on the stage, and we finally see Tyler (singer) and Josh (drummer) emerge from the ground\.. “Snow” (later learned to be lemon hand soap) falls from the ceiling as the duo walks to their respective stations (Tyler at the piano and Josh at the drums), and they burst into song.
Now, saying I was in tears as Good Day roared through the arena is an understatement. I was having a full on breakdown, in the best way possible. I have never screamed louder than I did the opening lyrics of this song. After playing two verses and choruses, Tyler disappears and an eerie video starts playing. The video abruptly cuts off, and they go directly into No Chances, where Tyler appears standing on a platform, and a curtain drops revealing the rest of the stage. As the song ends, Tyler dives off of the stage and onto the ground (luckily onto a mattress), leaving the crowd with only one thought: “Did that just happen?”.
Just as we can collect ourselves, a heartwarming montage of the band performing throughout the years appears, with videos ranging from audiences of twenty people to sold out arenas. Just as the video ends Tyler reappears standing on the piano, and the intro of Guns For Hands plays.
Notably, during their song Holding On To You, Josh did his iconic backflip off of the piano, which prompted a sea of cheers from the audience. It’s not a Twenty One Pilots concert without the Josh Dun backflip.
The next few songs are a blur, but one song was absolutely unforgettable: Mulberry Street. This song is already my favorite from their most recent album, Scaled and Icy, so I was stoked when I heard Tyler yell out the opening words: “Keep your bliss, there’s nothing wrong with this!”. As Tyler finished the first two verses and choruses, he headed to the B-stage for the bridge. In order to get to the B-stage, he had to walk by the front row of the seated area as he high-fived fans. Who did he high-five in the process? Yours truly.
As I stood there in awe trying to process that my favorite singer just acknowledged my existence, he had a task for us: the flashlight wave. He split us into sections and assigned us words/lyrics to hold up our flashlights during. As the sea of pink/yellow/blue flashlights lit up the arena, I stood there in awe of the light show I was witnessing.
Fast forward a medley of songs on the piano and ukulele, Tyler heads back to the main stage singing their hit song Migraine. While there were no high-fives given, he did, in fact, walk by me and my friend again. This next part of the show was my favorite: the campfire set.
On stage sat Tyler, Josh, and their touring band, all sitting behind an actual campfire. They sang a medley of The Hype, Nico and the Niners, Tear In My Heart, House of Gold, and We Don’t Believe What’s on TV via Tyler’s ukulele joined by accordion, bass, and trumpet. As the fire was extinguished, Tyler and Josh went backstage to change into their outfits from the Jumpsuit music video.
As they emerged back onto the stage, energy was still high an hour and a half in as, you guessed it, Jumpsuit played. During the next song, HeavyDirtySoul, I did notice a security guard singing his heart out to the choruses which was the best thing I’ve ever witnessed. As their song Saturday ended, Josh played a drum solo on a platform being held up by the crowd which was awesome, and his wife (aka Debby Ryan) walked right by me.
For one of their most popular songs, Ride, Tyler ended the song in the most Twenty One Pilots way ever, by jumping off of a piano onto a mattress being held up by the crowd, and mattress surfing back to the main stage.
Normally I get very sad when artists announce they are about to play their last song, but at this show I felt a sense of pride. Tyler gave an extremely heartfelt speech about how it was the last show of the tour and how grateful he was for us listening to their music. They ended the show in the way they’ve ended every single show for the past 12 years, with their song Trees. As done for more than a decade, they ended the song playing drums on platforms being held up by the audience as confetti rained down.
They then returned to the stage for Tyler to end the show with their signature saying: “We are Twenty One Pilots and so are you.”
Overall, this show was by far the best concert I’ve ever been to and proves just how incredible Twenty One Pilots are, not only as musicians, but as performers. Even weeks later I am still in awe of this show. I have been to countless concerts, but this may take the cake as the best concert I have ever been to.
If you’re like me and wish to relive a Twenty One Pilots concert, or have never been and want a taste of the experience, you can check out a replay of their 2021 livestream concert experience!