10 Years ago I stood in the crowd watching Twenty One Pilots open for Paramore and You Me At Six at the Brisbane Entertainment Centre. At the time “Vessel” had just come out, and they were relatively unknown to Australian audiences, but immediately during their opening song “Ode To Sleep” I turned to my friend and said “I’m obsessed”. Fast forward to 2024, and my reaction to their live show remains the same. 

Now seven studio albums deep, the dynamic duo closed out the 2024 leg of their “Clancy World Tour” in Sydney at Qudos Bank Arena with a sold out show that acted as a masterclass in how you execute an arena show. No matter where you sat in the arena you felt like you were brought into the theatrical show with its high production, audience interaction, and big singalong moments. The fast paced two-hour show opened with recent album track “Overcompensate” which saw the curtain dropping to a moody lit stage with Josh Dun on drums, before lead vocalist Tyler Joseph dressed in a balaclava jumped over the piano and into centre stage. Following into fan favourite “Holding Onto You” which flawlessly led into “Vignette”, they had fireworks and flashing strobe lights at the helm which I think everyone expected a lot of for this show. But what some people didn’t expect was a little bit of magic, and they delivered that during “Car Radio” with Tyler vanishing off the stage to appear 2 seconds later in the nosebleeds. It was a mind boggling moment early in the show which perfectly set the tone for the rest of the evening. 

As Tyler made his way back to the main stage, a video interlude played of fans lining up earlier that day in Sydney singing “The Judge” acapella. As Tyler made it back onto the stage, it ignited into the full band version of the song which felt like a unique and touching duet with fans. “Tear In My Heart”, “Shy Away”, “Heathens” and “Next Semester” brought the energy and kept momentum building, while “Routines In The Night” highlighted the theatrical nature of the show and felt like a music video or award show performance by the way it was filmed on the LED screens. It showed Josh in the crowd on one side of the arena with Tyler walking through the crowd to the other side to a little elevated stage. Performing at opposite sides, they did a mash up of fan favourites like “Addict With A Pen”, “Migrane”, “Forest” and “Mulberry Street”. 

Heading back to the main stage they revealed a new production design with big towers at the back of the stage with fire continually burning at the bottom for songs like “Nico And The Niners”, “Heavydirtysoul”, “My Blood” and show highlight “Guns For Hands“. The most wholesome part of the evening came during “Ride” when Tyler ventured back out to his b-stage with a young kid to sing “Ride”. The encore was fuelled by big singalongs to “Jumpsuit”, “Stressed Out” and the perfect  closer “Trees”. As always they ended the show in the middle of the crowd banging drums while co’2 cannons erupted and confetti filled the air. A dramatic and fitting end to a dramatic and perfect show. 

Over the course of ten years, every time I see Twenty One Pilots they continually get better. Their show is larger, their energy is crazier, and their fans are somehow even more passionate. Majority of them were dressed up in costumes related to the Clancy story, and it felt like they were waiting the whole show for permission to stand up and sing and jump around which didn’t come until “Trees”. Tyler is a man of few words, and that was the only thing that impacted the show ever so slightly. He holds a lot of power as the frontman, and he could’ve channeled that burning energy into a bigger euphoric moment of unison as the show was yearning for it. But with that aside, they truly crafted a masterclass in arena productions. It was immersive, and perfectly brought you into their musical world visually and sonically.

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Photos by Ruby Boland