Twenty One Pilots -Little Caesars Arena – 10.24.18

Twenty One Pilots
Little Caesars Arena – Detroit, MI – 10.24.2018
Words by Alex Deherder; Photos by Robert Sherman

Twenty One Pilots brought their electrifyingly energetic The Bandito Tour to Little Caesars Arena this past Wednesday.

An arena filled to the brim with people stood at attention, waiting patiently as a giant green curtain hung from the ceiling, flowing down to the stage, hiding the entire stage from sight. Finally, the curtain dropped to reveal drummer Joshua Dun holding a torch, parading slowly around the stage as the crowd went nuts.

Multi-instrument musician, singer and rapper Tyler Joseph elevated to the top of a car that was set ablaze with fire, and the area somehow got louder.

The duo began their Detroit set in the same way that new album Trench opens up, playing both “Jumpsuit” and “Levitate”  consecutively, showing a sort of parallel between the album and the show. At the end of the third song, “Fairly Local,” they pulled off a magic stunt. Prior to the last chorus of the song Joseph fell backwards, disappearing into the stage, seconds later he reappeared in the second level of the arena where he finished the track off Blurryface.

A little later in the set during another new song “Nico And The Niners,” a long row of production lights descended from the ceiling and Joseph used the lights as a sky bridge, performing the song above the crowd and walking across them to a secondary stage located in front of the soundboard.

Four songs were performed on this stage before the duo returned to the main stage, being met with support acts Max Frost and AWOLNATION, where they performed two cover songs: “Iris” by the Goo Goo Dolls and “Hey Jude” by The Beatles. It was an awesome surprise seeing all the bands come together and play these classic tracks.

Twenty One Pilots closed out the night in their trademarked way iconic way, playing fan favorite “Trees” from their breakthrough record Vessel. Towards the end of the song, Joseph and Dun got on platforms held up by the crowd, playing the drums while the crowd was showered in confetti.

It’s great to see Twenty One Pilots keep the intimacy between themselves and their fans alive during their live show, even if they are playing in an arena, as they’ve been doing this activity at the end of sets since the beginning of their ascent into fame.

Twenty One Pilots