A little more than a week ago, formidable and world-famous duo Twenty One Pilots played their last show of their 73-date-strong Clancy World Tour. Coming to a close at London’s iconic O2 Arena, the tour had seen the two-piece travel across the globe in celebration of their highly acclaimed 2024 released record ‘Clancy’ in front of thousands of dedicated fans each night, with some having waited to see the American group live again for more than six years. It came as no surprise then that many mourned the closing show at the UK capital in fear of the band taking a break or disappearing for a little while – but, in true Twenty One Pilots fashion, it seems that the end was only just the beginning.
Twenty One Pilots concerts have always been special. Whether it’s by performing some of their songs while being literally held up by their ecstatic crowds, freehand climbing towers, platforms and sometimes even roofs, or running around in massive red plastic hamster balls, again on the fans – the Columbus-based band – made up of lead singer Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun – has always made sure that their shows remain incomparable to most other gigs.
The production on their latest Clancy tour was, of course, no exception to that rule. And the fun began before the two friends even took to the stage. “What’s your ETA?”, we loudly hear through the speakers over the faint music that has been playing during the interlude between the main act of the evening and the set of the support group, Balu Brigada from New Zealand (who, it was recently announced, have been signed to Tyler Joseph’s new music label ARRO). “TWO MINUTES!!!”, the sold-out O2 Arena exclaims in reply. A fun call-back to one of the pair’s most beloved tracks, ‘Midwest Indigo’, from their seventh full-length album ‘Clancy’, and a unique way of letting the audience know that the show is about to start – inspired by the fans saying those lines to each other at the start of the tour before it was taken on by the band’s team and officially added to the pre-show set.
Then the curtain drops and Dun appears, already smashing his drums for their knockout single ‘Overcompensate’, while the crowd erupts in screams – a sea of red, black, and yellow, with some fans donning perfect replicas of outfits the two members have worn in the past or are wearing on this tour, including painted hands, necks and Clancy stoles. Shortly after, singer Joseph makes his entrance, jumping over his piano onto the stage, spitting lyrics into the glowing microphone and instantly taking command of the night.
The show’s setlist is a whirlwind of fan-favourites and uber-bangers from the two friends’ musical journey so far, with a focus on the duo’s latest release as well as their record-breaking 2015 album ‘Blurryface’. We only make it to song number three before the two-piece already jumps into one of their biggest songs – the haunting ‘Car Radio’ – and it’s then that the first surprise comes into action. Halfway through the track, Joseph, who until this point has been wearing the mask that has earned itself icon status over the course of the band’s current era, walks away from his piano and drops into a pit that has opened up on stage, only to reappear mere seconds later on the upper seated ranks amidst the crowd. It’s the first of two disappearing tricks of the set, with the second being performed later on by Dun.
Once the shock has worn off, we move into the next bit of the night with ‘The Judge’, introduced on the jumbotron screens by the fans themselves in the form of quick-cut video interviews and glimpses of concert outfits, self-made art pieces and waiting queues, all filmed by tour photographer Mason Castillo and creative director Mark Eshleman earlier that day. Duo Joseph and Dun have since changed outfits, with no masks in sight, and swiftly move through heartfelt tracks such as ‘The Craving (Jenna’s Version)’ and ‘Next Semester’, all while taking time to address the enamoured crowd and expressing their gratitude, the knowledge of it being the last show on the tour lingering in the room.
As per usual, the Ohio pair aren’t confined to the main stage for long, with both Dun and Joseph walking through the crowd to their respective b-stages and handing out high-fives during the groovy ‘Routines In The Night’, making the most of the massive arena and once more proving that no spot is a bad one at a Twenty One Pilots show. What then follows is the heart-stirring single ‘The Line’ from season two of the popular animated series ‘Arcane: League Of Legends’, gently performed with only the two small stages enveloped in purple lights before Dun leaves to return to the main stage and the entire venue fully darkens down for the enchanting ‘Mulberry Street’ as frontman Joseph requests the crowd to help him out. A few seconds later, a sea of phone lights arises to the singer’s delight, who then allocates individual segments of the chorus to separate sections of the venue, conducting one of the most whimsical bits of crowd interaction of the whole set.
The fun, however, doesn’t last forever, as we hear a loud boom racing through the venue at the end of the track, and drummer Dun suddenly emerges at the back of the pit, having only just been hitting the drums on the main stage bare seconds ago (or shall we say his double). It’s then that the lore, the story the band has been working on for more than a decade, really moves into the spotlight. At this point, the duo are no longer the talented musicians but rather the characters they have so meticulously crafted – Joseph as Clancy, Dun as the Torchbearer, with the latter now walking through the crowd to Joseph’s b-stage, flaming torch in one hand, and what has been named the “Clancy jacket” in the other. To fully explain the lore would take days (click here to read more about it or watch the video below), but what’s most important to know is that at all previous shows, Joseph always took the jacket – sometimes after a bit of hesitation and the encouragement of the chanting fans – but this time is different. Holding onto the Clancy stole around his neck, Joseph takes no notice of Dun standing next to him and walks off the stage, leaving the drummer behind, before raising the stole to his face, covering his eyes and disappearing into the darkness. A surge of screams shakes the packed venue, most fans in pure shock at what had just happened, while Dun walks back to the main stage by himself and watches as Dema, the city of their storyline, goes up in flames. It’s the first time the band has gone off-script for the lore-heavy parts of their show, and while many fans had speculated that something special might happen on the closing night, a real-life playout and continuation of the saga had not been written on anyone’s cards – even less so the fact that it was all hinting at the news that would be revealed just a week later.
Once Joseph returns to the stage, immediately bursting into the rocky ‘Navigating’, followed by a breath-taking run of the cinematic ‘Heathens’ and a mind-boggling performance of ‘Heavydirtysoul’, which comes with flashy lights, pyro and the vocalist lying on the floor, screaming the lyrics at the top of his lungs, the rest of the concert is veiled in a layer of uncertainty and anticipation for what else might happen. While bandmate Dun continues making his mark as one of the best drummers in the industry, singer Joseph moves around the stage, bass in hand, fully aware that everyone’s eyes are fixated on him and that the fans will register any “suspicious” gestures or movements he decides to make. And so he sprinkles in a few, some so quickly and nonchalantly that only the most die-hard fans can spot them – or later analyse them on Twitter. There is the recently gone viral demo version of the vibey ‘Doubt’ with the stole wrapped around Joseph’s eyes on top of his skeleton mask for the entirety of the song, making him perform basically blindly. In other moments, the singer terrifyingly gestures putting a noose over his head or the stole choking him while he reaches for air and bellows “Where are you?” into the packed arena in-between songs. What would seem horrific to casual attendees or anyone who hasn’t obsessively followed the band’s fictional storyline only sparks further waves of alarm and whirring minds amongst their fanbase, the Clique, with more than 10.000 fans following the concert online via live streams.
For the addictive ‘Ride’, the b-stages come into play once more as Joseph walks from one to the other, his raspy vocals captivating the audience. However, something is off – again and again, the artist quietly utters into the microphone, “Help me”, before finally arriving at his stage on the right side of the floor. And so what would usually be seen as a simple repetition of lyrics of the track is yet another cause for concern and questioning looks for many. But Joseph doesn’t let the audience hold on to their suspicions for too long as he is joined on stage by a young fan named Luke, who is quickly introduced to the crowd and then beckoned to perform the final moments of the song together with the frontman. For many months, this has been a highlight and staple of the duo’s concerts, which initially started with dads being asked to sing at the start of the tour.
An emotion-charged rendition of ‘Paladin Strait’, performed by both Joseph and Dun together, and a short intermission later, we have reached the closing portion of the set with the rock-induced ‘Jumpsuit’, ‘Midwest Indigo’ and the globally beloved ‘Stressed Out’, featuring Joseph’s trademark screams, blazing fireworks and Dun beating on his drums like there is no tomorrow.
And then the concert ends as it always does – at the peak of its emotions with the iconic ‘Trees’, this time performed on tiny stages in the middle of the pit, which had been cleared beforehand to form what is now known as the “‘Trees’ circle”. A haze of colourful lasers and lights, jumping fans and a flurry of red confetti raining down, the song turns into what it has always been at Twenty One Pilots shows – a celebration of life and the space and community the band has created.
Looking at fan’s faces – many streaked in tears and sweaty hair – it’s undoubtedly clear that the Columbus-based duo have built something that cannot be replicated. A show so special that it’s a mix of euphoria and pure sadness of it all coming to an end that takes over the arena. But it turns out, the pair would not let their followers be in mourning for long, as after less than three days, what some fans would refer to as a severely traumatic event happened on the 10th anniversary of the stellar album ‘Blurryface’ – cryptic posts started appearing on their social media, and the band’s profile photo changed to the eye that had, back in 2017, called in the group`s year-long hiatus. Naturally, the entire fandom exploded in a frenzy of anxious tweets and attempts to find out what was going on. One day after another, more strangely written postings hit the feeds while the eye continued to shut further and further. And then it all suddenly made sense – Blurryface, the antagonist of the story, had taken over the group’s social accounts while Clancy, the protagonist, was losing his strength. We had reached the final moments of the ‘Paladin Strait’ music video, with the bishop Nico, aka Blurryface, grabbing onto Clancy’s throat as a means to overtake him. And while it became clear that fans were witnessing the fight being played out in real-time, a vital point in the story had been reached – would the eye close fully, with Clancy losing the fight? Or would it spring back open, showcasing a new chapter of the storyline?
On May 21st, also the four-year-anniversary of their pastel-coloured record ‘Scaled And Icy’ (an anagram for “Clancy Is Dead”), it all happened very fast. While fans expected the eye to shut completely and for the day to pass without much activity (“no sound on Wednesday”, from the song ‘Saturday’), the American duo once more threw everyone a curveball and did something that had never previously happened in such a short amount of time – they announced their new album ‘Breach’, set to release in September this year, plus the upcoming single ‘The Contract’, their official post stating: “our new full-length album Breach will be here in september. the first song, The Contract, comes out june 12th. hello Clancy. hello Blurryface. let’s finish this. |-/ ”.
The cover, a visual mix between the imagery of the ‘Blurryface’ and ‘Clancy’ eras, was also unveiled then and there and showcases what had surprised so many only a week before – singer Tyler holding onto himself, looking away, and drummer Josh holding up the jacket to Joseph, facing him. This had always been the plan, laid out in small doses throughout the entirety of the Clancy tour – a new era and the end to the story. And while we wait in anticipation for what is to come, for the final act of a lore so detailed and well thought-out that fans have long been calling for a movie or TV series to be made, it has become more apparent than ever that there will never be another band like Twenty One Pilots. After years of cryptic posts, online scavenger hunts, secret websites and hidden letters, they still manage to bewilder their fanbase and make them feel like one. Because the one fact will always remain: They are Twenty One Pilots. And so are you.
Written by Laura Weingrill // photography by Weronika Pasadyn
GEM Magazine 
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