The night of February 1st, 2017 I attended the Omaha, Nebraska stop of Twenty Øne Piløts current tour, the Emotional Roadshow Tour. The first opener was Judah and the Lion which I didn’t see because they started right at seven or shortly after and the lines were long. Next was Jon Bellion, who sings the hit song on the radio ‘All Time Low’. I missed the first two songs he performed (my favorites by him) because I was getting merch, but I seen the rest of his show. At one point at least two thousand of the 17,000 in attendance had their phone lights flashing in unison for a touching song.

Twenty Øne Piløts took their sweet time taking the stage for their set, and in the time of innermission thousands of people pulled their phones back out, flashed them in the ‘blurryface’ shape, and starting chanting TØP! TØP! Finally, the set began very slowly, when the nine circles of their newest albums cover one by one, scream by scream came across the stage. Once all nine were up, the ‘blurryface’ figure came across the backdrop and sang the chorus of Fairly Local.. Next, the lights faded in and Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun took the stage in ski masks and Tyler had his hands and neck painted black, per usual. Josh Dun has said that the reason Tyler does this is to hide his insecurities.

Key points of the concert include when every light in the dome went out, and a single spotlight was shined on to the left upper tier where Tyler was hanging from, singing. Also, an inflatable life-sized hamster ball was blown up and both of the members crowd surfed in it. A unique part of the show was when security put Josh’s drum set on top of the crowd and he performed while on top of the crowd. Tyler Joseph also performed one of their deepest songs while standing on a tall ladder in the middle of the dome. Josh stood between the two bio-hazard characters featured in the Fairly Local video, and performed a snare drum trio.

I’ve seen a minimum of 60 artists live, I’ve been to one day music festivals, four day music festivals, tour concerts, indoor and outdoor concerts, and this concert is tied for my favorite concert ever, along with a rap concert I attended in summer 2016. The Emotional Roadshow Tour was such an amazing experience because instead of just singing and jumping around the stage, both members of the two man band were moving all around the dome, and interacting with fans.  

Towards the end of the show, Tyler gave a speech, and when he was done there was ear-ringing unending applause. When Josh stood up after his drum solo, there was again, unending applause. All the boys did during the applause was smile shyly and look up towards the sky, and down at all of their family members in the crowd. They ended the show by saying “We are Twenty Øne Piløts, and so are you.”