Twenty One Pilots: Emotional Roadshow

Hersheypark Stadium

Photo: Lauren Hight

6 months ago, my brother opened up his present from me under our family Christmas tree and to his surprise, a pair of tickets to Twenty One Pilots’ Emotional Roadshow tour fell out of the packaging. Now after months of waiting, we finally made the 2 hour drive up to Hershey, PA for the show and wow; I was floored.

I have seen TØP three times prior to the show in Hershey but this performance was unlike any other that I had seen. This was their largest production to date and their draw is so vast that between my brother and I, we personally knew at least 20 fans who also made the 100 mile trek from Philadelphia for the show…and I’m sure there were more.

From the end of opener MUTEMATH’s set up until TØP took the stage, an ominous hum buzzed through Hersheypark Stadium as their crew was setting the stage behind a massive white curtain. I personally loved this aesthetic touch and it really rallied up the audience for what was to come. To pass the time, the community of TØP fans got an all-inclusive wave going that circled the 30,000 capacity stadium at least a dozen times.

Roughly 10 minutes following sundown, the giant, white curtain dropped and a microphone slowly descended from the stadium rafters. It was time. Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun walked out wearing their signature ski masks with matching red suits (complete with their skeleton key logo on the sleeve) and the sold out crowd erupted into screams and fangirl tears. The eerie intro to “Fairly Local” blasted through the stadium and the crowd sang through the chorus while Joseph stood still at center stage. Dun’s drumming soon changed tempo and the song smoothly transitioned into “Heavydirtysoul,” which is where we got the first taste of Joseph’s unique vocals. From there on, Hershey was rocketed into a 2 hour spectacular of music, emotion and performance.

Tyler Joseph, Twenty One Pilots

Photo: Lauren Hight

The magic really set in during “Hometown” however as Joseph pulled a Criss Angel and turned himself into a vanishing act. He was originally sitting at his piano on stage before two crew members draped a sheet over him. While you could still see his profile sitting there, the arena went black and Joseph’s figure fell flat. In the blink of an eye, all of the attention was now shifted to the top of the stadium’s press box where…you guessed it…Joseph was standing to reprise the song. My brother and I happened to be in the section immediately in front of the press box and the only words we were able to mutter were “OMG. HOW?!”

Once “Hometown” had wrapped, Joseph sprinted through the crowd back to the main stage and plummeted into the remainder of the 22-song set, which was a satisfying mix of Blurryface, Vessel, Regional at Best and Twenty One Pilots tracks. The b-stage section in particular featured TØP’s self-released songs from Regional at Best and Twenty One Pilots and while none of the performed tracks ever hit the radio waves, the crowd still sung along to every word. Framed with one of Hershey Park’s lit-up roller coasters in the background, this section felt extremely personal and present.

Joseph and Dun are natural performers and even after the pleasant surprise of the b-stage, they kept up with the unexpected! They brought back out their openers, MUTEMATH and Chef’Special, for a medley of covers (side note: TØP mentioned that MUTEMATH is one of their favorite bands…how cool is it that your favorite band is your opener?!) and the group had a little something for everyone. At one point, Dun hopped off the drums to let MUTEMATH’s Darren King take over and then showed off his trumpet talents to the crowd. This particularly came in handy during their renditions of Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On” and Justin Bieber’s “Love Yourself.” Yes, you read that right. Twenty One Pilots and their frens covered the Biebs and even intertwined their not-so-secret liking of the song into the lyrics.

The night began to wind down with staple TØP hits like “Stressed Out,” ‘Car Radio” and “Ride” (with Dun playing the drums on top of the crowd, of course) but it wouldn’t be complete without a giant, red hamster ball…right? As the finale for “Guns for Hands” Joseph encapsulated himself in the hamster ball and ran across the pit. GENIUS. Even though my brother and I were in the grandstand, it still felt like we were down there with them because the energy was that high.

Besides connecting lyrically, Joseph and Dun were constantly engaged with the audience (they went into the crowd a total of 7 times) and not once did their (or the crowd’s) energy drop to anything less than 11/10. They promised in the beginning that even the people in the back corner would walk away with an experience they’ll never forget and I believe that they lived up to it. A Twenty One Pilots concert is better put as an experience as opposed to a show because they allow you to connect emotionally to their performance, not just visually.

TØP themselves say “don’t trust a perfect person and don’t trust a song that’s flawless” but if you ask me, they were pretty damn close in Hershey. Bravo on a fantastic show TØP and thank you for accepting the few, the proud and the emotional.

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