Twenty One Pilots brought an epic setlist and pyrotechnics to the finale of their decade-long concept album storyline at the American Family Insurance Amphitheater Sept. 23.
Opening with “Overcompensate” from their album “Clancy,” the audience was brought to life. Red lights and montages of previous music videos from the band’s “Dema” storyline played on the jumbo screen.
A distorted voice blared “Welcome Back to Trench,” and a black curtain revealed a hooded Josh Dun with glowing red eyes on the drums, exciting the crowd. The audience sang along to the lyrics of “Sahlo Folina” until fireworks on stage exploded and a masked Tyler Joseph jumped over the piano.
The Grammy Award winning duo from Columbus, Ohio consists of lead vocalist Joseph and drummer Dun. Twenty One Pilots found commercial success in 2015 with hits such as “Stressed Out,” “Ride” and “Heathens” and broke through the Billboard Hot 100 with their 2015 album “Blurryface.” Since then, the band has released four other studio albums, with their most recent album, “Breach,” reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200.
Since “Blurryface,” the band has created a storyline through their music — the Story of Dema. In a nutshell, a character named Clancy and a group of rebels called Banditos must defeat the corrupted bishops who rule the city of Dema, who have brainwashed their citizens with a religion called Vialism.
The city of Dema is a metaphor for dealing with mental illness and self doubt while trying to find a “better place,” which fans have found comforting as they struggle with similar obstacles.
Joseph announced on instagram that “Breach” would conclude the Dema storyline.
Throughout the show, Joseph and Dun played as their characters, Clancy and Torchbearer, and the band made several references to the storyline. These references include a “ritual” performed by Joseph during “Message Man,” where he dipped his hands into a bowl of black paint, a reference to the character Blurryface, while rapping the song’s bridge.
They performed their new songs “The Contract” and “RAWFEAR” from “Breach,” followed by fan favorites “We Don’t Believe What’s on TV” and “House of Gold,” which haven’t been performed since 2019.
The band loves to engage and show their support to their fans by leading chants, giving high fives and allowing younger fans to sing up on stage with them. Halfway through the concert, the members walked to the B-stages towards the back of the venue, giving the fans in the nosebleeds section a chance to know what it feels like to be front row.
The crowd’s energy was through the roof when the band brought out pyrotechnics and smoke machines for upbeat songs like “Heavydirtysoul” and “Jumpsuit.” The crowd impressively caught up with the rapping in “Heavydirtysoul” while jumping up and down.
The show concluded with a fan-favorite tradition of performing “Trees” with Joseph and Dun being held up by the crowd as they beat drums, splashing the pit with water and chanting the last lyrics of the song until a shower of red confetti concluded the show.
As they took their final bows after a grand show, Joseph said, “We are Twenty One Pilots, and so are you.”
