As I've mentioned before, one of my favorite bands is Twenty One Pilots. I discovered this amazing duo back in early 2013, and saw them live four times that year alone. I reviewed shows of theirs last year at both Big Guava Music Fest and The Dome. The reputation that they've built for their live performance is second to none.
Twenty One Pilots released a new album earlier this year, entitled Blurryface. In its first week it was number one on the Billboard 200, showing just how strong this fan base is. The band also announced a US tour for the album, with all dates now being sold out. The guys have even dubbed it the 'sold-out tour' on social media outlets.
I chose to make my first New York trip of the year and went up to the Hammerstein Ballroom for back to back nights. New York is a city in which I've seen some of the best shows of my life. Oasis in 08, Mumford on their Babel tour in 2013, Arcade Fire back to back nights in 2014, Band of Horses acoustic, and even a show by Young the Giant at this same venue.
The capacity crowd of 3,500 anxiously waited through opener Echosmith, who I thought was less than impressive. Nobody seemed to be interested as this loyal fan base was clearly just ready for the main act. The Twenty One Pilots duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun took the stage just shy of 9pm.
First song was Blurryface album opener 'Heavy Dirty Soul,' in which Tyler came out wearing his signature skeleton mask and sang into a microphone suspended from the ceiling. The crowd was nuts right from the beginning, as the moshing and crowd surfing started almost instantly. Second tune was current single 'Stressed Out,' giving the fans a chance to impressively sing and rap along with Joseph.
While most of the set was dedicated to the new material of Blurryface, Twenty One Pilots also paid tribute to the album that brought them to their current level of popularity in Vessel. Vessel was my favorite album of 2013 and is probably in my top 5 albums of all time. Even though the ovations for tunes from Blurryface were great, you could tell that fans are just a bit louder for songs off Vessel. They're more sing a long friendly and the crowd is accustomed to hearing them live.
A true highlight of the night was a medley of tunes that Joseph and Dun played on a stripped down drum kit and keyboard in the middle of the set. This included single verses and choruses of tunes off Vessel and the two albums that preceded it. It was a great way to fit more snips of songs into the set. My only complaint is that I would have loved to have seen full versions of personal favorites 'Ode to Sleep' and 'Forest.'
One of the reasons these guys are so entertaining live is because of their interaction with the audience. Joseph came into the crowd for both 'Holding On To You' and 'Car Radio.' Dun at one point hopped onto a drum set strapped down to a clear platform that was pushed out into the crowd. He killed a drum solo from this position for the end of 'Ride.'
My favorite part of the night may have been the encore. After Joseph played the softer 'Goner,' the duo went into fan favorite 'Trees.' Throughout all seven times I've seen these guys they've always ended with 'Trees.' It's the perfect Twenty One Pilots song and ends with the dueling drum solo the guys play on top of the crowd.
Overall, another expected and great show from one of my favorite bands. Completely worth the trip up to NYC and I'm glad there will be a night 2 for this review as well!
Concert Rating: 4 Stars
SETLIST:
1. HeavyDirtySoul
2. Stressed Out
3. Guns for Hands
4. Migraine
5. Polarize
6. House of Gold (Intro Only)
7. We Don't Believe What's On TV
8. Can't Help Falling in Love (Elvis Presley Cover)
9. The Judge
10. Lane Boy
Medley:
11. The Pantaloon (Verse 1 and Chorus)
12. Semi-Automatic (Chorus)
13. Forest (Chorus)
14. Screen (Chorus)
15. Ode to Sleep (Chorus)
16. Addict with a Pen (Verse 1 and Rap)
17. Screen (Bridge)
18. Doubt
19. Message Man
20. Ride
21. The Run and Go
22. Holding on to You
23. Tear in My Heart
24. Car Radio
ENCORE:
25. Goner
26. Trees
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