On September 13th, the iconic duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dunn stopped at American Airlines Center on their seventh headlining tour, coined as THE ICY TOUR. With a set list spanning over a decade, the discography of Twenty One Pilots flowed seamlessly throughout the night with crowd participation/interaction, stunning visuals and coordinated stunts.
As the house lights dimmed, the main screens shined bright with the duo seemingly lost in a barren and icy wasteland, creating a transition to reveal them on the main stage through a bright blue door. The show started off with "Good Day", a relatively newer track transitioning into their hard hitting alt sounds of "No Chances" and then throwing it back to "Guns For Hands" featuring Tyler’s iconic keys performance. I was personally not familiar with any tracks after their 2015 album, Blurryface, but I thoroughly enjoyed their elevated sound and production that meshed so well with the rest of the set.
After running over to another piano on the second stage, Tyler orchestrated the crowd, and led them with their flashlights to go along with the chorus of "Mulberry Street". Going down memory lane, the lead singer asked everyone to take a breather and sit as the band went through every album since the creation of Twenty One Pilots. I cannot speak for everyone there, but listening to stripped down versions of classics like "The Judge" and "Migraine" made me appreciate the musical talent and passion put into these songs.
Proceeding the intimate piano and acoustics resonating the arena, Tyler ran back up to the main stage to be greeted by his partner and accompanying band all sitting around a campfire. With even more classics being performed, you can just feel the genuine care and soul from the two musicians. Transitioning back into higher gear, Josh performed "My Blood" and "Saturday" while being held up by the crowd (if you know, you know). As I was standing in section 107 alongside other photographers and fans listening to "Ride", Tyler jumped off the main stage and ran up to our aisle being in arms reach. After doing this one more time on the opposite side of the arena, he then jumped onto a mattress from the second stage and crowd surfed all the way back up to the front.
With the set coming to a close, Tyler Joseph prefaced that this moment was his favorite part of the entire show; which turned out to also be my favorite part. The performance ended with "Trees" as the duo got up onto the confetti-covered crowd with their bass drums. And in Twenty One Pilots fashion, Tyler sent off the crowd with, 'we are Twenty One Pilots, and so are you.'
Overall, the sense of nostalgia and gratitude came to mind throughout the entirety of the show, as I was reminded of all of the classics that I used to binge listen to. I really felt like I was a part of something more and I could see right through the meaning of each song being performed. If you ever have the opportunity, please do yourself a favor and experience a Twenty One Pilots’ show in the near future. Be sure to check them out during the rest of their tour: https://www.twentyonepilots.com/tour
Photos of the show are below:
Reviewed by Scott Rowe, Editor
on
September 15, 2022
Rating:
