“Welcome back to Trench”- The words echo throughout the venue as cheers erupt from the crowd. The curtain is pulled away as Josh Dun and Tyler Joseph appear on stage. The duo take their places, sitting down behind the drums and grabbing the microphone as it lowers from the ceiling. The intro to Overcompensate has never felt longer. A masked Tyler Joseph, or Clancy, as the lore would say, captivates the crowd with classic vocals, smoke screens, fireworks, and bright red lights flooding the center. A night filled with lore, special effects, and colorful smoke-filled skies lie ahead.
The musical duo opens with “Overcompensate,” the first song of their new album. Besides the catchy rhythm, the song relates to a story told over Twenty one Pilots’ last four albums. It reflects Joseph’s feelings of inadequacy while relating to his character Clancy’s plans to go back to Trench; a place outside the borders of Dema. In the story, Dema is a city controlled by bishops, and no one is allowed to leave. The ongoing story comes to an end after a decade of rebellion and hidden messages through Twenty One Pilots albums, going back to Blurryface in 2014. Twenty One Pilots uses the story to combat and spread awareness of mental health. Some songs throughout the album and previous ones relate to the lore and further the story, while others are simply for public enjoyment. Regardless of the songs’ meanings, the new album has overall been a success.
After only the second song of the set Twenty – One Pilots has already stunned the crowd with a seamless transition from “Holding Onto You,” to “Vignette.” The band wasted no time in introducing fan favorites like “Car Radio,” “The Judge,” and “Tear in my Heart.” These emotion inducing tunes leave a stadium of red tape screaming in unison for over two transcendent hours. And of course it wouldn’t be a Twenty One Pilots concert without some unexplainable theatrics. Only a few songs in, as the beat to Car Radio inexplicably stops, a bright light flashes towards the nosebleeds. Who else but Tyler Joseph, the lead singer standing in the spotlight, would be there? Just moments before singing along with the crowd, now a hundred feet above, looking down at the stadium as fans nearby gasp in disbelief. This won’t be the only time Joseph or Dun would make their way through the crowd though; Josh Dun’s character “the Torchbearer” guides “Clancy,” who has once again miraculously found himself in the crowd, through the aisles later in the show, as well. However, the musical partners’ biggest crowd appearance was in their rising stages; circles lifting them and their respective instruments high above the crowd. Spotlights shined down as the mood of the arena calmed, and only a few of Twenty One Pilots old yet famous songs would make an appearance. Age-old albums like Vessel and Twenty One Pilots gave the crowd time to take their seats and enjoy some of the artists’ calmer melodies. “Addict With a Pen”, “Fall Away,” “Migraine,” and “Trees” could be heard by every soul in the center.
While Twenty One Pilots has never had a definitive sound or genre, each album and song resonates with fans. Even though some songs have edgy techno riffs or a twisted story, nothing brings an audience together quite like one of Tyler Joseph’s love songs. Whether they’re from 2024 or 2009, fans united under smoke screens and spotlights and sang every word. Classics like “Holding onto You” and “Tear in My Heart” had fans gasping for air between every word, but one song could truly silence a crowd as they waited on every heartwarming lyric. Phones rose up from the audience, and the arena was filled with thousands of flashlights gleaming like stars in a night sky. “The Craving,” is known by fans as a song so personal only Tyler Joseph himself would be fit to sing the lyrics. As Joseph strums “The Craving (Jenna’s Version)” on his ukulele, the arena’s once bright lights and theatrics calm, and a love song for Jenna Joseph, Tyler Joseph’s wife, leaves every audience member in the arena speechless. The acoustic version of their new song leaves the audience in awe.
Like their albums, Twenty One Pilots can’t stick to one genre for too long. On the main stage, pillars rise and smoke and fire erupt. The decade-long story comes to an end; a city of ash and ruins is left, complete with old songs that tell the hidden story of Clancy. “Nico and the Niners,” is a fan favorite song and a metaphor for the bishops holding Clancy back. Joseph makes his way back onto the stage, accompanied by a trench coat – almost symbolic of the place Clancy so desperately wishes to escape to.
After confusion, fire, red lights, and video reenactments of Clancy’s struggles, Joseph and Dun switch from a dark tale of a fictional land to relatable songs that fans are more than happy to sing along to. Whether it’s with a young fan or drummer Josh Dun, Tyler Joseph ends the night with a bit from each album. In their last song of the new album, “Paladin Strait”, Josh Dun makes a vocal appearance. After years of struggling with insecurity about his voice, not a single member of the crowd dared to utter a word over the historic change in the band’s sound.
Just when the crowd thinks the duo has no more tricks up their sleeves, a red circle is revealed in the middle of the pit. As fans are peer-pressured into moving, Twenty One Pilots make their way towards the now empty circle. As they’re once again lifted above the crowd, the bittersweet beginning of the end ensues. The band plays their last songs of the night completely surrounded by fans.
The concert ends with bright spotlights and the banging of drums. As “Trees” comes to an end, rain falls inside in the form of red confetti. Twenty One Pilots stands triumphant in a sea of supportive crowd members, “The Clancy World Tour” displayed behind them as the night comes to an end.