I may not love anything in the world the way that Twenty One Pilots fans love this band. They are dedicated and fervent, but also extremely polite which caught me off guard especially when you compare them to similar followings. The band came through Portland, OR on Tuesday, October 20, 2015, in support of their newest album, Blurryface (which dropped in May). Along for the ride were special guests, Echosmith.
If you checked any of the Facebook events for this concert you would have seen them filled with people trying to score tickets as the show sold out in a matter of hours. If you happened to pass by The Crystal Ballroom on Monday night, you would have seen said fans already lining up for the following evening. By 5:00 pm on Tuesday it would be around the block.
By the time Echosmith took the stage, the ballroom was filled. The crowd had seemingly become a big single mass that permeated steam and sweat. Echosmith, the indie-pop family band from Chino, California, was one of the best parts of the night. They fed off the energy of the crowd and just looked like they were having a lot of fun.
After they finished, you could sense the mood shift that took over the room. Everyone knew what was next and little could be done to suppress the excitement. When the house lights dropped the crowd lost their minds and once vocalist Tyler Joseph appeared on stage, there wasn’t a quiet corner in the building.
The band, comprised of Joseph and drummer Josh Dun, ripped into ‘Heavydirtysoul’ and then ‘Stressed Out’, the two first songs off of Blurryface. All the while Joseph performed through the mask of a full-zip skeleton hoodie. The mask was abandoned before moving onto ‘Guns for Hands’ off of their 2011 Regional at Best.
The night continued much in the same way, the band performing this year’s smash, “Tear In My Heart” and their unique blend of hip-hop and pop for a crowd that was entranced by every move they made. The night, which consisted of some of the best light work I’ve ever seen, culminated with a few well timed confetti cannon blasts and the band closing out their encore with ‘Goner’ and ‘Trees’.
Twenty One Pilots are set to return to Portland, OR in December, so be sure to keep track of when tickets go on sale, because they won’t last long.
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