Unofficial | “The Clancy World Tour”: Twenty One Pilots’ home show | Opinion

I was 13 when I saw Twenty One Pilots for the first time in my hometown of Indianapolis, Indiana. Seeing them now, almost 22 and about to graduate college, I can confidently say that I would see them again in my 30s just to recreate the feel – the true experience – of a Twenty One Pilots show.

The band played three nights at the Nationwide Arena in their hometown of Columbus, and the energy was overwhelming by the second performance of the weekend. Although every Twenty One Pilots show provides a sense of shared understanding and camaraderie among fans, hometown shows tend to be special. Being able to perform songs from over fourteen years ago to today in the place where you grew up while fans scream the lyrics at the top of their lungs is an unforgettable experience.

With a running time of around two hours and over 30 songs on the setlist, the band demonstrated how to put on a performance the right way for both old and new fans. Tracks were selected from each of their albums including Clancy, Blurryface; the band's breakthrough album; some selected songs from Trench and Scaled and Icy, fan favorites from Vessel and deepcuts from their self-titled album. Through Dun's impeccable drumming and Joseph's passionate performance as the band's frontman, all the songs merged into a unique and emotional journey that the audience experienced throughout the show.

A short message displayed on the stage screen before the show began revealed that the show would be recorded for a live album, with audience microphones set up throughout the stadium. At the end of the message, a request from Joseph and Dun reads: “So give us everything you have?” Without a doubt, the audience delivered.

The reputation and reaction between the band and the audience was unmatched, as fans knew exactly what to do when Joseph put both hands in the air to invite him to live in the music with him. During “Stressed Out,” he said, “What’s my name?” Just before the audience sang the lyrics, “My name is Blurryface, and I care what you think.” There were countless other audience reactions throughout the concert , which only reinforced the message of the fan video that played before “The Judge”: the duo's connection to their fans – the few, the proud and the emotional.

Twenty One Pilots are known for their interaction with the audience, especially those in the pit, and it is always a pleasure to see how Twenty One Pilots are able to stand out from other bands through their creativity and authenticity in their performances. One of the highlights is when Dun literally drums on the crowd during “Paladin Strait” and the fans lift him and the drum into the air on a platform.

“Car Radio,” a staple of the band’s discography, introduced another “trick” the duo uses at shows. Wearing a ski mask and playing the piano for the first half of the song, Joseph got up from his seat and walked to a human-sized hole on the stage. With one step he fell into the darkness.

A split second later, the spotlight fell on the upper right side of the stadium, revealing Joseph at the top of the stands, unmasking himself at the end of the song in a magnificent reveal of the trick he had just pulled on us. Later in the show, Dun magically reappeared in the stands and walked to the main stage with a lit torch, where the flames on the screen made it appear as if it were on fire. If nothing else, Twenty One Pilots will put on a show.

After doing this for so many years, Joseph and Dun have developed a kind of bond with fans that allows them to, for example, set up two mini stages in the middle of the pit to perform the last song of the night. However, this is not an easy task. A red circle was drawn in the middle of the standing area to serve as a guide for where the stages needed to be set up, but those in the pit lane had a hard time pulling back far enough to make it work.

After some gentle guidance from Joseph, who asked everyone to take at least three steps back, the stages arrived and the duo were able to perform in the most intimate way possible to a room full of 20,000 people; In the middle of the crowd.

At the end of their performance of “Ride,” Joseph announced that he would be welcoming members of the “new generation of Twenty One Pilots fans” to the stage. When two young girls took the stage wearing noise-cancelling headphones and nervous smiles, the crowd melted at the sweet performance. Find out they were Joseph's nieces and, along with their uncle and the voices of thousands of fans, they sang in tune with their absolute hearts.

Something about that moment took me back to 2016, when the 13-year-old version of me was doing the exact same thing I'm doing now. Between the sea of ​​voices that surrounded me and the band doing their best along with the audience, I had the same feeling. A combination of nostalgia, anticipation, catharsis and hope all at once; the true experience of being at a Twenty One Pilots show.

The opinions expressed by the columnist are their own and do not necessarily reflect those of The News Record. If you have any concerns or feedback, please contact [email protected].