I’m going to start off by saying that Twenty One Pilots is my favorite band. I was supposed to see them back in December 2015 because they came on my birthday. Back then, my mom and I didn’t know much about buying tickets when they go on sale. We got to the venue to purchase the tickets and they sold out in 30 minutes! We weren’t able to get the tickets and resale had ridiculous pricing. I was so sad that day. I remember my mom promising me that the next time they come, she would buy me the tickets. My mom has always come through for me. Twenty One Pilots announced Emotional Roadshow. Somehow, my mom found out about it before I did. She got me the tickets as a Christmas gift. I remember before I knew that she has gotten me the tickets, my mom and I both bought TØP shirts. I kept asking why we were buying shirts if weren’t going to see them. But nope, she had a poker face the entire time I asked her.
That year all my gifts were put into one big box. So first, were the Set It Off tickets. Second were the MDE tickets. Then third had balloons that said “pop me” written on them. I had a knife on me and started popping them. I didn’t think anything of it. Then my mom asked if I saw anything. I looked inside the box and saw a rolled up paper that came from inside the balloon. I opened it, and I was just staring at a ticket with nothing on it besides the seat and row number. It didn’t even have an artist name written on it. I turned around, looked at my mom and said, “Are we going to see Twenty One Pilots?” She looked back at me with a smile on her face, nodding yes. I gave her a hug… while crying. After the tickets was a GoPro and a Twenty One Pilots shirt.
Fast forward to June 5th, the day of the concert. My mom and brother, Felix, came with me. I don’t think words can describe how I was feeling that day. They came to the Allstate Arena, a big venue compared to other venues they had played in the past. We left semi-early because we had seat tickets. We were on the second floor all the way in the back. My mom and I had made a poster that was a picture of me but blurry. Then we had “blurry face” written on it. We weren’t able to bring the poster inside the venue. It sucked but wasn’t too big of a deal.
The two opening acts were Chefs Special and Mute Math. Before the show, I didn’t know who they were at all. Chefs Special were first, they were really good. My brother knew a few songs by them. I liked their music, it had a good vibe to it. Next was Mute math, first thing I can say about them is their entire set they had bright lights. They had these cool light effects that lit up to the beat of the music. The group was super energetic.
Then Twenty One Pilots were next. Oh man, was I excited! Then I heard the beginning of Fairly Local which lead into Heavy Dirty Soul and that’s when the curtains went up. Everyone started screaming and getting out of their seats. I can say that every single song that they played, the crowd was singing along. The set list was great!! I knew every single song, Tyler and Josh’s stage performance is the best I’ve seen. For being that well known, they interact so much with the crowd. Then they played Migraine. Of course my brother knew all the lyrics. Then Hometown was played next. Tyler left the stage (probably a stunt double) and appeared in the crowd on the second floor. Far from where I was. But he just stood there and sang the end of the song then took his mask off. All I saw were everyone’s phone lights on. I love Polarize, well actually I love all their songs. But I loved how Tyler incorporated Spanish into it. After was We Don’t Believe What’s On Tv with the beginning of House Of Gold. At the beginning of WDBWOT Tyler had everyone yell “yeah yeah yeah” and during the song when that part came on the music stopped and all you heard was everyone yell “yea yeah yeah” which was cool. If you’ve seen the band live or wherever, you know how Tyler puts his floral flannel over his head with the sunglasses. Seeing him do it in person is so funny. They continued with some more songs on the ukulele. The Judge was next followed by Lane Boy. In Lane Boy there’s that part where he says “stay low” and everyone crouched down. And waited till the deep voice said “will they be alive tomorrow” everyone started jumping as well as Tyler jumping on stage. At the end of the song Josh did his drum line with the two guys in the gas masks.
They had a second stage still on the floor but more towards the back. That’s where Tyler and Josh always wear their skull hoodies. On the second stage they played Ode to Sleep. Also they played melodies from their self titled and Regional At Best album. Once I heard Forest came on I got really happy. They got back onto the main stage and sang Doubt. For Doubt at the end of the song where it goes “eh-eh-eh don’t forget about me” he split the crowd in half. He pointed to one half and they did the “eh-eh-eh.” He pointed to the other half and did “don’t forget about me.” He did it till the song ended and it sounded really cool. Next was Holding Onto You. Where Tyler gets in the crowd and raps the beginning. Also where Josh backflips off of Tyler’s piano after the whole “lean with it rock with it” part. Then they did covers of a few songs and brought the opening acts back on stage. Then Ride was next. I love how Josh got on top of the crowd with his drum platform and finished the song off strong. I could only imagined how those people felt holding Josh up I wished it was me. Stressed Out, the song that everyone knew. Hearing it live is so much better than hearing it on the radio. I recorded the whole set on my GoPro, then it died mid of Stressed Out. So I switched to using my phone to record the rest. Guns For Hands which is my moms favorite song. At the end of the song Tyler got into a hamster ball and went through the crowd. Next, the song that got me into the band, the one song I can play on piano, my favorite song, and most importantly the song that bonded my mom and I 10x’s more… Car Radio. I can’t describe how much I relate to this song. Let me tell you seeing it live is the greatest. Towards the end of the song where it’s the “woah-oh-oh”, then the clap starts going, and Tyler jumps off the piano and started jumping. He goes to the back on the tall stand, it was quiet, all you hear is everyone screaming. Then he said, “One hand up”, there went everyone else’s hand up. Tyler started screaming “Now I just sit.” I started screaming it along with everyone else. Then he took his mask off and sang the rest of the song.
Goner was the second to last song. Also my favorite song. It was amazing, I started tearing up but it’s also a very close song to me. It defiantly hit home to me when he yelled “Don’t let me be.” This next part might be surprising but I was unfamiliar with Trees and how it’s always the ending song. Even though I knew the song by heart. Tyler gave a speech talking about how “it was on of my favorite shows I’ve done in a long time.” -Tyler Joseph 6-5-16 Then he went on to talk about how he needed us, he mentioned how we might think we all look like a blur to him but he recognized some people from previous shows. Then he sang Trees. He stopped singing and everyone sang along. For the chorus everyone started a clap. That’s when the entire room let their energy out. “All the way to the right, all the way to the left, all the way to the back. You said you had one more, everyone in the pit, 1, 2, 1, 2, 3 lets go!!!” Everybody was off the floor jumping. Then, at the very end of the song Josh on the left, Tyler on the right, each standing on a platform with the crowd holding a drum. They did the ending drum part. Blasted confetti. They drummed “Hello’ pointed to the crowd, we yelled “Hey!” till the end of Trees.
Twenty One Pilots is and will always be my favorite band because they stay true to themselves and their music is the best plus the connection I have with it. I was all the way in the back and it was still great. With that said, Tyler, Josh keep doing what you’re doing, helping people with your music and creating music. Any bad day I’ve had, your music has made it better. It’s my dream to meet you guys. Till then thank you |-/
I’ll end it with this “We’re Twenty Øne Piløts and so are you”
P.S
I had three tickets to the show. Two of them were for my mom and I. The third ticket was meant for me to take a friend. I asked two friends who were into Twenty One Pilots and neither of them were able to go. I didn’t want to just take anyone. Most of the kids I knew in middle school, only knew like two songs from the band just because they had heard it on the radio. That’s why I took my brother. He knew the band, enjoyed their music, and knew a lot of the songs, which was great. I definitely felt alone and sad that I couldn’t bring a friend with me to the show. I know what it’s like to feel alone. People have said to me “oh you listen to angry music?”, or “ew change that, it’s scary!” Wait can’t forget about “that’s devils music.” I’ve heard it all. I’ve gotten sent to the social workers office because my art teacher in middle school thought I was “too dark.” Currently in my gym class, my teacher puts some bad music on, radio music which I don’t like. She also plays country music (which I’m fine with) but everyone tells her to change the song. My teacher is telling me and my friend, Kyla, to make a playlist of the songs we want. If the students in the class can’t tolerate country music, what do you think will happen when they hear screaming? Well, I’ve been procrastinating making a playlist because I would be censoring myself. I wouldn’t choose songs with a lot of screaming which is what I love. I created this blog to share my concert experiences and to show you guys that you’re not alone. I know it’s hard. Hell even now, I sometimes still feel alone. But there is a whole community online (such as this one) where we can talk freely about music, concerts, and our stories. I want you to feel free to message me at anytime, my social media is at the bottom and I’ll answer you back. I know a P.S is suppose to be short and sweet but I had to get this out. I’m not sure how to end this so here’s a song lyric, ” If it wasn’t for this music, I don’t know how I would’ve fought this” – Lane Boy by Twenty One Pilots. Thanks for reading this!
-SMG
I know I keep on saying, but I am so proud of you 💕