Concert Review:

The streets of New York, normally void of color, are painted in vibrant colors as Twenty one Pilots fans line the street outside of Madison Square Garden. Today is the day of their first night at the venue, but

fans have been lining up since five days prior to se-cure their front row spot. Acquiring ‘center barri-cade’ is almost a competitive sport for these fans, as every show has a general admission floor, meaning that the earlier you get there, the closer you get to the band. Tents hug the outside wall of the venue, and fans linger in groups as they excitedly discuss the event. My boyfriend, Alexander DeLeo, and I woke up at three in the morning, grabbing our bags we had packed the night before, and dressing up in our concert outfits. We both chose to dress up as the lead singer in the band’s music videos for the new album, Trench. This consisted of black pants and boots, a green army coat, and yellow duct tape on the shoulders of the coat. We wore this outfit under multiple layers due to the frigid October tempera-tures. We caught the four a.m. train, sticking out comically amongst the sea of businessmen and women dressed in their professional clothes on the train platform. Stepping out of Grand Central Sta-tion, we caught a taxi to Madison Square Garden. Stepping out of the cab, we were greeted with the smiles of elated fans on the sidewalk. Several waved and greeted us as we approached the line. The honor system at general admission shows includes going up to the first person in line and asking them to write

the number place you are in line with sharpie. My boyfriend and I were numbers 230 and 231. This helps keep organization and honesty amongst those who camp for front row. The girl who was first in line was wrapped in a space blanket for warmth in-side of her tent and told us that she had travelled to the show from Texas. To understand the dedication of the fan base, you have to know more about the band that they all adore so intensely. Twenty One Pilots (stylized as twenty one pilots or twenty øne piløts) is an Amer-ican musical duo from Columbus, Ohio. The band was formed in 2009 by lead-vocalist Tyler Joseph along with Nick Thomas and Chris Salih who de-parted from the band in 2011. The band currently consists of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun. They p u t out two self-released albums,

Twenty One Pilots in 2009 and Regional at Best in 2011, before being signed to Fueled by Ramen in 2012. Their label debut,

Vessel, was released a year later in 2013.

Twenty One Pilots - The Bandito Tour

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My boyfriend, Alexander DeLeo and I kissing wrapped in a twenty one pilots flag outside of the venue.

They achieved breakthrough success with their fourth album, Blurryface, in 2015, which includ-ed the popular hits “Stressed Out” and “Ride”. The band additionally recorded the single “Heathens” for the soundtrack of the film Suicide Squad, which made them the first alternative artist to have two concurrent top ten singles in the United States. Their fifth album, Trench, was released in October of 2018.Ten minutes prior to the doors opening, my mother arrived and took my heavy coat and bag as well as my boyfriends’. With nothing holding us down and the obstacle of bag-check now re-moved, we were excited to be able to swiftly move through security check to run to the stage. Hand in hand, we ran as fast as we could up the stairs with hundreds of other fan all laughing and shouting around us. As we maneuver through the maze of hallways in Madison Square Garden, I think of how I would not be running through these halls holding this boy’s hand if it weren’t for this band. I met Alexander at a twenty one pi-

lots show years ago and we became best friends, exchanging numbers and social media handles. When we realized we only lived a mere twenty minutes apart, we became inseparable. We went to more shows together, and somewhere in those concerts dancing and singing by his side at front row, we ended up together. If I were to ever meet twenty one pilots, I would thank them for many things; including bringing my boyfriend and I to-gether.

There are two stages at a twenty one pilots show; the main stage and the B stage in the back of the room. B

stage is a very small stage where the barricade surrounding it is very close to the edge of the stage. This stage pro-vides an intimate ex-perience and caters to older fans since they tend to play some of their older songs at this stage. It gives the ef-fect of traveling back in time with the band. To get to this B stage, a catwalk descends from the ceiling. The lead singer and the drummer climb a short ladder to get to the catwalk and walk above the crowd to get to the o t h e r stage. Soon

enough, the show starts.

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By: Erin Fitzgerald

Photo: Erin Fitzgerald