Twenty One Pilots- Concert April 8th 2017
Twenty One Pilots: Emotional Roadshow World Tour.
So this was a quick spur of the moment decision but a brilliant one. I finally got to see the band that pretty much were the soundtrack of Year 12 for me. With this band, I am able to remember a particular smell, memory or feeling associated with their music and I think that's an incredible gift.
With a courtesy $50 note in my purse, I bought a tour shirt: my typical concert tradition and wore it proudly as my friend and I followed behind hundreds of others in a straight-line. I don't know how many were in front of us, but I couldn't even begin to give you an estimate of the amount behind us. Forced into the enclosed basketball area of Perth Arena, they watched us angrily as we moved closer and closer to the doors. Under 2 hours of waiting wasn't so bad but it pays to arrive at a decent time.
Keep note, the people that were in front of us had either come in the early hours of Saturday morning or had slept over night since about 8pm Friday. Wouldn't recommend doing that however, Perth City isn't exactly prime location.
When the doors opened at 6.15pm, bodies were moving in an orderly fashion and dared not to run as the woman who opened the doors stated that "everyone who runs will be grabbed by the shirt and pulled to the back of the line." I had a mini heart attack when the lady checking my ticket threw it into the bin. She said we'd all get them at the end of the night.
When the three of us were together after being checked, we fast-walked towards the doors that lead to the stage, still not running. Already people had the best spots in front of the stage but I was determined to get a good spot, regardless of what I had to do to get it. Being nimble and kind of small, I managed to squeeze myself into a tight space between a few other bodies. I couldn't believe that I was roughly six people behind the stage. That was probably the best I was going to get too, considering that the layout was nothing like the intimate space of Metro City for The Specials but smaller than N.I.B Stadium for the Foo Fighters.
At 6.45pm sharp, the guest act SAFIA walked on stage happily and theatrically. Having never heard anything from them aside from "Take Me Over" with Peking Duk, I was pleasantly surprised with the music they brought to the table. Think of them as an indie/ electronic band and young people crowd pleasers. Never have I ever seen such a well behaved and clean guest-act. (They're usually obnoxious or rude) but these guys were happy to make small talk with the audience, were able to get us moving our hands and even got us all prepped for Twenty One Pilots. I'd probably go and see these guys at a concert of their very own.
By the time SAFIA had finished, we had about a half hour of waiting to do before Twenty One Pilots were due on stage. In that time, I spent it analysing the people around me. I wasn't keen on the people much younger than I trying to squish past me because they wanted better spots. I turned around to a few and grumbled "we've all paid good money to come and see this show, don't you dare try and push past me when you know others will definitely put you in your place." Needless to say, the moved back, apologised to the others that they had knocked rudely and kept quiet. Now, is it just me or does it seem unacceptable to bring in a fully-loaded backpack into a mosh pit? Usually no one brings anything aside from their phone or a small purse with a backup charger. Two girls in front of me had these massive backpacks right on their backs which throughout the night (until I was pushed by hundreds of others more forward) bumped against my stomach and chest sending me straight back into other people. So here's a Public Service Announcement to every concert goer: DON'T BRING A BIGASS BACKPACK INTO A CONCERT...ESPECIALLY NOT A MOSH PIT.
When the clocks ticked over to ten past eight, screams from the mosh pit and the seats echoed all around the arena as red and white lights began to dot across the curtain that was currently separating the general public from the stage. Then, as it flipped up, out popped Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun. Instead of immediately rushing to photograph them, I stuck my hands out in the air in excitement like 50% of the others in the pit. The other 50% had stuck their phones out and proceeded to film the entire show (yes, that really happened). My vision was becoming skewed and blocked by the amount of phones that were covering my peripheral and frontal sight. That really sucked. Only a few times during the night did I decided to take a few photos but as a rule I keep to myself, a simple focused point and click will do.
I can't tell you just how amazing these gentleman really are. They were polite, friendly, engaging and best of all: lip syncing free! (You'd hope so too). Not only was the music amazing, I also loved the screen-effects that ran across the stage TV's, the teleportation from the front of the stage to a mini stage towards the very back of the mosh pit (as one example) and the many costume changes.
The one thing that I'm still trying to get over is that Tyler jumped into the mosh pit and stood above us. The entire mosh pit acted like a bunch of gazelles and everyone was forced forward in a stampede. I can't tell you how scared and excited I was at the same time because no words would be able to describe it. I caught a pretty okay photo of Tyler in the crowd too (below). After that, Josh came into the crowd a couple of times with his drum kit resting on a few moshers and then proceeded to jump inside a giant inflatable ball and roll himself across the thousands of people standing. When this happened, I had barely managed to stay on my feet as the mosh pit ran forwards, backwards and sideways. About half the mosh pit had fallen over already, a pretty nasty fear of mine.
By the end of the concert, legs were like jelly and no one was ready to leave. I didn't stick around to climb to the front of the stage for the sound techies to hand out setlists and guitar picks because 1) would have been incredibly hard, 2) I was starving and thirsty and 3) a few of the moshers were getting quite angry with the traffic and I really wasn't in the mood to disagree with someone over movements. Yes, Josh threw his drum sticks so if you haven't attended this concert yet, look out for those!
Just a little comment here. In no way am I saying the concert sucked or that everything wasn't amazing, it's just
a little sad to see so many people on their phones for the entirety of it. Just when you think you can see everything, someone pulls out there phone and keeps it there for ages. Last night I had girls leaning their phones on my head, placing their phones in front of my eyes to get the perfect shot and not caring that they were blocking my vision and people trying to swat my phone away as I put it up for all of 5 seconds to take one decent shot for this site/ my instagram. I do believe (from the many concerts I have attended) that crowds who are 25+ in age are usually the most considerate, don't use their phones as much and are way more appreciative of the band. So keep that in mind the next time you attend a concert and either suffer in a punch-up or having your vision clouded by phones...what a nightmare.
*Note: this post-concert feedback may really suck because no matter how hard I try to be articulate and descriptive, it isn't ever going to justify what I saw and just how much I was buzzing afterwards. Do yourselves a favour and check these boys out LIVE!
Thank you SAFIA, Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun for such a wonderful, fun and crazy night! Please come to Perth again soon...since no one interesting really does.
