Photos and Review by Abbie Respondek
It was a very muggy show day at Dos Equis Pavilion in Dallas, TX, but that didn’t stop every single seat being taken by the fans of twenty one pilots to sell out a Monday night performance.
To start, the parking situation could have been better for the 20,000 fans that were to show up at the packed venue. The Texas State Fair ended the day before and many multiple transportation carts, 18-wheelers, and other fair vehicles were blocking at least 50 parking spots, forcing concertgoers to find other parking near the venue. Poor planning on someone’s part.
The night began with Dayglow as the opener, an artist and his bandmates whose hometown is the DFW area, playing what would be considered their hometown show. Their setlist included songs such as their hits Can I Call You Tonight?, Close To You, and Hot Rod. Their on-stage presence was very natural and they were able to win the crowd over by the end of their 8 song/30 minute set. Everyone cheered for them as they were striking their final chords and throughout their exit of stage, setting the tone for a tremendous evening yet to come.
With their new album, Breach, that was just released just over a month ago, twenty one pilots fans, or the “clique”, had to learn the lyrics to their new songs relatively quickly. Their tour actually started just one week after the album release, in the band’s home state of Ohio at a sold out TQL Stadium in CIncinnati. This is the first time since 2016 that the two-man band was on an outdoor venue tour. Twenty one pilots is no stranger to festivals at home or around the world, but when it comes to a standard tour to support an album, the alternative rock band have been very comfortable playing and selling out indoor arenas for the last 9 years.
Between weather or other production issues, there seems to have been something wrong at almost every tour stop so far. But I personally didn’t see an issue throughout the whole 2+ hour set.
The Midwest native band took stage and electrified the heart of Dallas, TX promptly at 8:45 pm and it was only uphill from there. They began their 28 song set with their previous album, Clancy, leading song Overcompensate as the lead singer, Tyler Joseph, leaps from his own piano.
The 14 year seasoned band may only be made up of two members but that doesn’t stop them from encompassing the entire stage in the process. Tyler Joseph is not only the lead singer, he also performs with a bass guitar and an upright piano he’s used for many years. While he gets to run around and interact with the crowd, Josh Dun stays mainly behind his drum set, although recently, he has become more comfortable singing and does so on stage during the song, his band mate wrote for him, Drum Show.
This tour supports an album that wraps up a 10 year storyline that Tyler has written through their previous 5 albums. Breach brings closure to the tale that began all the way back to the spring of 2015 with their release of Blurryface. The setlist for this tour seemed to be really heavy on the album that started the storyline of different characters. Blurryface songs that the Grammy winning duo rocked out in Dallas with included their biggest hits Ride and Stressed Out.
During the middle section of the show both lead singer, Tyler Joseph, and drummer, Josh Dun, make their way through the crowd during Clancy song Routines in the Night to perform on the lawn to be closer to the fans all the way at the back of the venue so they can also experience being up close and personal and not left out of all of the fun. During this “b-stage” section the set is assisted by an old music video call back of an old car that they light on fire while they are playing the stage.
The transitions the band moves through the set is one that other bands should take note of. Fans name one of these song mash-up transitions as Nico-dirtysoul for Nico and the Niners into Heavydirtysoul. They also play major hits such as the song from 2016 film Suicide Squad, Heathens with big stage productions just like throughout their whole show.
The band also put out a song last year for a show adaptation of a video game League of Legends, Arcane. The Line has easily become a crowd favorite from both the fans of the show and the “skeleton clique” members. And I must say it is very moving to hear it performed live.
You can very much tell these two long time band mates and best friends love the job they have performing together for the thousands of fans every night they can. Twenty one pilots seem to be a band that can fit into any demographic. There were children there for their first concert, teenagers, young adults, and even parents singing along to most of the lyrics.
To close out the show, the two performers stand on platforms held up by their own fans and use the drums to beat along with the final song. This being my eighteenth show for the band, hearing Trees as their closing song will never get old.
While the red confetti was still falling from the air from the band’s all time concert closer, the band was reluctant to leave the stage as the crowd gave them close to a three minute standing ovation. I don’t think I’ve ever heard a crowd louder than I did that night, and I will admit, of course I was adding to the well deserved nonstop applause. The cheers hadn’t subsided until Joseph could finally muster up the emotion to speak their always-final words at their shows, “We are twenty one pilots and so are you”.
Tyler Joseph, he father of three lead singer, and soon to be expecting bandmate, Josh Dun, are very much looking forward to a well-deserved touring break when they wrap up their The Clancy Tour: Breach run in Los Angeles this weekend.
Until next time, clique.
DAYGLOW
