Coming off the meteoric success of 2015’s “Blurryface” and the monster single “Stressed Out,” Twenty One Pilots have been on their Emotional Roadshow World Tour since last May. Their show on Wednesday night at the Honda Center was a spectacle in every sense of the word, with two stages, a giant hamster ball, and even a magic trick of sorts during “Hometown” that sent lead singer Tyler Joseph from the stage up into the nosebleeds in the blink of an eye.
In the midst of all the flash, the most affecting moment of the night came from the humblest offering, when home-video footage from 2011 was played over the big screens. Here were Joseph and drummer Josh Dun, changing a blown-out tire on their crumbling tour van, rehearsing in one of their Columbus, Ohio garages and playing a backyard party for what looked like eight people. It served as a touching reminder that before the billions of plays on Spotify, before Sunday’s Grammy Award for best pop duo/group performance and before the two sold-out shows at the Honda Center (capacity 18,336), they were just two kids trying to make it, something that tends to slip one’s mind when thousands of people are screaming the words to every Twenty One Pilots song so loudly, Joseph barely needs to sing.
The duo exploded with “Heavydirtysoul,”a beat-heavy banger that features some of Joseph’s most rapid-fire rapping, then transitioned into the Killers-esque alt-pop of “Hometown” and electro-reggae-hip-hop combo of “Message Man” and Polarize.” During “Lane Boy,” another hyphenate-heavy hybrid and crowd favorite, Joseph sings, “They say, ‘Stay in your lane, boy, lane, boy / But we go where we want to,” which may be the best explanation of their genre-busting approach, a mashup they call “Schizoid-Pop.”
Categorization proves elusive for a duo featuring a drumming monster like Dun – who hurls himself at his kit with such ferocity he seems to be powering the whole arena – and a musical savant like Joseph, who flips just as easily between playing a ukulele and running around the stage jumping off the top of the piano, as he does between spitting rhymes and singing in his soaring, stadium-ready voice.
They displayed even more versatility after moving to a second stage at the back of the pit, running through more introspective ballads like “Ode To Sleep,” and “Addict With A Pen,”, before returning to the main stage where Dun had an epic drum battle with his onscreen self, and capped off a show-stopping performance of “Holding On To You” by backflipping off the piano.
Next came a medley of covers, which they attacked after inviting openers John Bellion and Judah and the Lion back onstage. Chumbawamba’s “Tubthumping” and “Jump Around” by House of Pain were both on point, but seeing the banjo player from Judah and the Lion grooving around the stage in a Santa suit to Backstreet’s “No Diggity” was the preeminent moment.
As the end of the set drew near, nwith othing but the mega-hits remaining, the crowd hit critical mass. Known as the Skeleton Clique, the fans are fervent. Attending a concert feels more like participating in a movement or joining a club. They seem to all know the rules – such as only wearing red, white, and black –and know absolutely every word to every song.
“I’ve been living my whole life for this,” one overcome fan in skeletal face paint could be heard screaming – a sentiment that echoed throughout the arena as Joseph and Dun took a victory lap with “Ride,” “Stressed Out,”“Tear In My Heart,” and “Car Radio.” The encore of “Goner” and “Trees” was completed, fittingly, with help from all their devoted fans, who literally held up the platforms they stood on, as they beat on their drums, and red confetti rained down.
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