Tag: concert

Twenty One Pilots: Emotional Roadshow

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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.

Carrie Underwood: The Storyteller Tour

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Over the past week, I have been participating in a trial run of integrating country music news into Mix 106’s website by posting blogs and engaging in social media posts.

As part of my blog (well more so my words displayed on my friend’s current blog page), I really wanted to invest in the multimedia skills I gathered while studying at Cabrini and thought…what better way to do so than with a mini concert review! I was able to score tickets to Carrie Underwood’s Storyteller Tour stop in Philadelphia and aside from being totally blown away (get it?) I wanted to share with the Mix audience just how talented she is! I took video of some of my favorite performances last night (until my phone died that is) and wrapped it up with an ode to some of Carrie’s own social media posts.

You can check out the review now here.

 

Talk About One “Hell of a Night”

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Back in June I made a 12 hour, 800 mile drive to Nashville, TN with 3 of my best friends to attend the 2015 CMA Music Festival. The night shows are a driving force of the festival with power headliners like Luke Bryan and Carrie Underwood singing into the Tennessee moonlight but the festival also allows up-and-coming artists to show the country music fan base what they got. One in particular that really caught my attention was Chris Lane and while I only saw about 15 minutes of his set, I was hooked.

Hell of a Night TourNearly 8 months later, my opportunity to see a full set of his had arrived! It was announced that Lane would be a supporting act on Dustin Lynch’s Hell of a Night tour along with Tyler Rich and one of their stops would be in Philadelphia! While it was clearly a great line up (to me at least), what made it even more exciting was that while I was at CMA Fest, I had really wanted to see Lynch perform but unfortunately missed all of his performances throughout the week. So along with finally being able to see Chris Lane, I now got to add Dustin Lynch to my concert-viewing resume!

Throughout the week prior to the show, I was really hyping myself up as I rarely take time to do things for myself anymore due to my work schedule. Well my level of excitement amped itself from an 8 to a 10 when I received this email from Lane’s team:

Congratulations!

You’ve been selected to be part of the Chris Lane Meet & Greet at the TLA in Philadelphia, PA.

YES! YES! YES! I couldn’t believe it! Back at CMA Fest, Lane actually held a M&G after his set and I was in line for it…but due to time I had to step out of line and watch him greet fans as I walked to my car.

So now was the time! I walked into the TLA on Friday, Feb. 12 for the sold out Hell of a Night Tour partially covered in snow thanks to the unpredictable Philadelphia weather and made my way to the designated M&G area. I was ushered into the backstage areaChris Lane and there he was! Now thanks to my awesome job with iHeartRadio, I have gotten the privilege to meet a lot of really great artists…so you would think I have this composure thing down to a science. Now this is true for the most part but there are certain artists I’ve gotten antsy around (mainly Nick Jonas…and if I ever got the chance to meet Luke Bryan or Sam Hunt) but I started getting the nerves when I was in line to meet Chris! Once I actually got up to talk to him though, I was able to let my personality come through as I told him the story of seeing him at CMA Fest and we talked about the show that was to come.

After the M&G I was able to enjoy the show and with every act, I was brought back to my memories of Nashville. Tyler Rich opened the concert with originals, Justin Bieber covers and shots of whiskey. Like 6 shots of whiskey. On stage it was just Rich and his acoustic guitar and I must say he is a fresh artist that I’m looking forward to hearing more of! Plus he is easy on the eyes and kind of looks like Sam Hunt from a distance.

Lane was next to take the stage and this was the performance I was most looking forward to! Still on the high from getting to talk to him earlier that night, I was rocking out to every word of “Broken Windshield View” and “Her Own Kind of Beautiful” before he threw the venue for a loop with his mash up cover of Miley Cyrus’ “Wrecking Ball,” Bruno Mars & Mark Ronson’s “Uptown Funk,” The Weeknd’s “I Can’t Feel My Face” and Nsync’s “Bye Bye Bye” among other popular Top 40 tracks. Lane has such an enjoyable stage presence that reminded me of why I stopped in my tracks back in June to watch him perform at the CMA Fest BMI Tailgate Stage. He closed out his nearly 40 minute set with his single “Fix” and I can not wait for everyone else to be singing along with me to that song next time he comes around.

Finally, the headliner that is Dustin Lynch took the stage. He set the TLA into a frenzy when he stepped out in his form-fitting t-shirt and trademark cowboy hat before going into an hour and a half set that would convince even non-country fans that he is the real deal. I’ll admit, I didn’t know a whole lot about Lynch prior to the show except that Dustin Lynch "That's Where It's At"“Hell of a Night” and “Cowboys and Angels” were massive radio hits but I quickly converted into a fan. “She Cranks My Tractor” has an undeniable vibe that automatically puts you into a good mood and just when I thought it couldn’t get better, Chris Lane and Tyler Rich come back out for karaoke with Lynch! The night ended with Lynch crowd surfing in a light up inner tube during “That’s Where It’s At” before going into the title of the tour, “Hell of a Night.”

All of the qualities of this show brought me back to my CMA Fest filled weekend in Tennessee and reminded me of how lucky I am to have gotten to experience so many talented performances within the country spectrum. The relationship that each artist has with the crowd and respect that the fans have for the performers shines through each show and I love being able to be a part of it all.

Ain’t No Stopping Me: Part 2

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As mentioned in part 1 of this two-part post about this past week at my internship, I decided to break it up because I knew that I would hit nearly 1000 words per post.

As for promotions now, I was asked to help the promo crew on two semi-major events that were happening within days of each other. This is where the 4 hours of sleep kicks in because intertwined with these events was also CAP Board’s Spring Formal, which I was one of the 5 key planners for.

If you really squint, you might be able to catch me in the upper right corner right above the RA in Grande. Photo credit: the station's Snapchat ttory

If you really squint, you might be able to catch me in the upper right corner right above the RA in Grande. Photo credit: the station’s Snapchat story

On Thursday, pop super star Ariana Grande was bringing her Honeymoon Tour to the Wells Fargo Center and we were set to make an appearance since she is one of our most commonly played artists on the Top 40 station.  While I have helped out with concerts before, I am usually holding a camera and working with the artists themselves but this time there was none of that; we were 100% fan interaction. I was set to work with 2 other regular members of the promo crew as well as my promo supervisor Angelica, the two on-air DJs and our engineer John. While we all had our own responsibilities, we would still all be in the central location representing the station.

Once we arrived at the venue, we set up our area and prepared ourselves for the masses of teenage girls that would be coming through. Our goal was to encourage listeners to sign up for a free raffle where they could win station swag and to interact with them on a more personal level. Building a conversation with a 12 year old and her mom in a matter of seconds could be difficult, but since I’m aware of Ariana Grande’s music and background, it wasn’t nearly as challenging as I expected. Not being afraid to reach out to someone was key for this event being a success and it was really cool getting to interact with the fans on a more personal level.

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Casey interviewing listeners who got to sit in on Ariana Grande’s sound check party. Photo: Lauren Hight

In addition, Casey, the afternoon drive DJ, was live broadcasting from the show so I was able to observe her process of doing things. My favorite was when she pulled random girls from the crowd to interview on-air and their reactions to being on the radio were one of a kind.

On Friday, it was all about prepping for Saturday’s event – Olly Murs performing at the zoo for Utz National Potato Chip Day. Olly Murs is a multi-platinum selling artist in the UK who is still building his footing as an artist here in the U.S. I’ve actually been a fan of his for some time and long story short, he is actually the reason why I interned with this company back in the summer of 2013 so it really was full circle that I would get the chance to work his show two years later.

Come 7 a.m on Saturday morning, I was running off of adrenaline because I had a mere 4 hours of sleep the night before due to Spring Formal. I knew though that I couldn’t let my lack of sleep get to me because a job had to be done and it was something I was immensely looking forward to.

Lucky us, Saturday had a 100% chance of rain and our venue for the day was the Philadelphia Zoo. Taking that Angelica was fully aware of this, we had to condense our show from an expected 1,500 person attendance down to 200 attendance due to moving everything inside of a pavilion.

Our rigged pipe and drape made it up to the stage just in time for the crowd. Photo: Lauren Hight

Our rigged pipe and drape made it up to the stage just in time for the crowd. Photo: Lauren Hight

Part of set up was preparing a space for the meet and greet which required a pipe and drape set up. Now the station has an old pipe and drape set that we barely ever use and it was our job to assemble the mess of poles into something that could hold a banner displaying the station’s and our sponsors logo. This doesn’t sound challenging but when you discover that you are missing one vital pole, things can set into panic. With only a half hour to go before the photo op with Olly started, half of the crew and I were struggling to construct a solid support that is visually appealing. It was obvious that a piece was missing so with what we had, we were forced to rig the structure. With literally 3 minutes before listeners started entering the building, we somehow got the thing to stand in addition to setting up a makeshift banner out of posters in case it didn’t come together.

Once the fun of the pipe and drape was over we hit another bump. Because the rain refused to lighten up, our expected crowd was cut back from 200 to barely 100. Only 7 out of the 50 meet and greet winners showed up and the last thing we wanted was for our sponsors and Olly’s tour management to think the show was a bust. As show time approached, I was sent out into the zoo to recruit literally any one I could to come by the performance. Thanks to my knowledge (and personal appreciation for him as a performer), I was able to sell Olly’s show to a handful of people who didn’t even belong in his demographic. The reason I only say handful is because we were lucky at this point stumble across anyone wandering the zoo on a rainy day.

Olly Murs performed for an intimate group of listeners at the Philadelphia Zoo. Photo: Lauren Hight

Olly Murs performed for an intimate group of listeners at the Philadelphia Zoo. Photo: Lauren Hight

Making it back just in time for the performance, late-night DJ Raph took the stage and introduced Olly to the intimate crowd. Throughout the 4 song set, I was singing along and asking people to take photos for the station’s site with a bag of chips. This forced me out of my box a bit because I was required to be more assertive and persuasive than I am so people would stop watching the show for a second to smile for the camera.

Overall, I witnessed how a backup plan sometimes has to unfold itself in situations and got to see one of my favorite performers up close and personal.