REVIEW: Twenty One Pilots’ electrifies sellout crowd at Quicken Loans Arena

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21 pilots concert

Alex Novak

 Twenty One Pilots has embarked on its worldwide Bandito tour with as much energy and enthusiasm as ever, and the band brought its music to Cleveland on Tuesday night for a memorable performance.

Darkness descended on Quicken Loans Arena around 9 p.m., which was immediately followed by uproar from a sellout crowd and screaming for the duo as they took the stage to begin the concert.

An extremely fun touch to their entrance was the torches they were carrying in Bandito bandanas, yellow tape and jumpsuits before they rocked the arena with a performance of their album’s lead single, “Jumpsuit.”

Lead singer Tyler Joseph kept the crowd involved all night, not just performing the music fans know and love, but encouraging everyone to sing along and interacting with them to create some unique performance that continued old concert traditions and introduced some new ones.

The duo moved around quite a bit during the show, especially Joseph, who performed a bit of the classic transporting-man magic trick when he fell under the stage during “Fairly Local.” He then reappeared seconds later in the upper bowl, served by the cover of the duo’s signature ski masks to pull off and leave the audience in wonder.

They incorporated a bridge into their show, which connected them to the B stage to provide time for people to sit and enjoy a few slower tunes, including oldie “Taxi Cab,” which is one of their first to incorporate a rap. Drummer Josh Dun fired up the crowd by taking his journey to this area on foot, high-fiving fans along the way.

These tracks in the setlist also featured a moving lighting set above them that fit the visuals of the audio tracks for their album as well as an illuminated holographic screen of Joseph singing over the entire stage.

They then returned to the main stage, both using the bridge over the course of the performance of “Pet Cheetah,” inciting the crowd to jump around to the beat.

Each track was impressively accompanied by stunning visuals on the main three screens, which illuminated an array of vibrant colors and flashes as part of the Dema-Trench story from their latest album. 

Joseph checked in on the whole audience from the row at the very top all the way down to a roaring pit multiple times, and the audience — who was singing at the top of its lungs and dancing along from start to finish — had reactions that were second to none. Everyone felt included and let out loud roars.

Both Pilots members looked short of breath at times, as the show was more than two hours once they took the stage and included plenty of moving parts.

With a hyped-up arena rooting them on to continue, they played wonderfully because of the crowd’s inspiration. One of the many highlights is when Joseph divided the crowd in half to sing along to the falsetto chorus of their new pop-rock song, “My Blood.”

The duo also invited its openers, Max Frost and Awolnation, back to the stage as they all performed covers of “Iris” by The Goo Goo Dolls and The Beatles’ classic “Hey Jude.”

As is tradition, they performed an extended version of “Trees,” a song from their 2013 album, “Vessel,” by ending held up on two drum platforms while confetti streaming from the rafters to cover the crowd.

Alex Novak is an entertainment reviewer. Contact him at [email protected].