American musical duo Twenty One Pilots performed at Mohegan Sun Arena on Thursday, Oct. 17 with the pop band Misterwives as openers. The Connecticut show was part of their Bandito 2019 Tour. Photos by Kimberly Nguyen / The Daily Campus.
Award-winning musical duo Twenty One Pilots levitated onto the Mohegan Sun stage during the North American leg of their 2019 Bandito Tour. Marking one year on the release of their fifth studio album, “Trench,” their stage presence and fanbase appear only to be growing stronger.
Pop band Misterwives opened the show, and the colorful rainbow stage was engulfed by the flames of a burning car as Twenty One Pilots vocalist Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun started the electrifying concert with “Jumpsuit” and “Levitate,” the first two songs off “Trench.” As thousands of yellow flower petals fell onto fans dressed in camo green and yellow, the duo rose up 40 feet on a platform and transitioned straight into “Heavydirtysoul,” the fast-paced song that kickstarted their previous critically-acclaimed album “Blurryface.” To the audience’s awe, the band concluded “Heavydirtysoul” with an indoor firework show and the boom of a cannon.
When the lights turned back on, Joseph reappeared donning his iconic white glasses and floral kimono. After trading his bass guitar for a soft ukulele, Joseph explained to the crowd that, in 2013 while opening for Fall Out Boy during their “Save Rock and Roll Tour,” Mohegan Sun was the first arena they ever played and how grateful they were for fans supporting the band to the point where they sell out arenas every night. The arena then sang “House of Gold” in unison after Joseph said he wrote the song for his mother back in 2011. After finishing the peaceful anthem, the lights turned a deep purple, and Joseph transitioned into rapping “Lane Boy,” which featured two figures dressed in hazmat suits and gas masks bouncing all over the stage, gassing the audience with cold smoke.
The two then donned yellow windbreaker and played “Nico and the Niners” from “French.” Fans were shocked when Joseph instructed the mosh pit to open a center aisle so he could walk straight down to B-stage while rapping the breakdown in “Nico and the Niners.” With Dun still playing drums on the main stage, fans were torn between following Joseph down to B-stage or remain watching Dun play drums.
Once both members were on B-stage, Joseph instructed everyone to sit and peacefully enjoy the band’s melancholic pieces on the piano. Songs like “Tear In My Heart” and “Bandito” brought with them mesmerizing light shows that complemented the peaceful atmosphere. The band returned to the main stage to perform songs that brought them into mainstream radio like “Stressed Out,” “Ride” and “Heathens.”
Other notable moments of the night occurred during “Holding Onto You” and “Morph,” when lucky fans found themselves holding up a rapping Joseph or “drum island,” a platform where Dun would sit and perform a drum solo on top of fans. The amount of trust the two have in their fans was later expressed by Joseph during his routine speech right before the last song of the night, “Trees.” Joseph also expressed his support for the mental health of his fans and the band’s hopes of returning to Mohegan Sun. “Trees” ended with the two members standing on top of the audience once again, this time banging on bass drums while the entire arena was showered in yellow and green confetti.
Since the band’s formation in 2009, the Ohio natives have become worldwide sensations with multiple international tours under their belts and a Grammy for their rock hit, “Stressed Out.” This was the band’s fourth time performing in Connecticut.
Joel Monge is the social media manager of The Daily Campus. He can be reached via email at joel.monge@uconn.edu.
