Twenty One Pilots - Clancy Tour Review
If you're curious about the experience of attending a Twenty One Pilots concert, you've come to the right place.
Twenty One Pilots are currently headlining an arena tour to promote their latest album, Clancy. The band formed over fifteen years ago, and they are still on top of their game. With three songs impressively amassing over one billion streams on Spotify and with their newest album debuting at number two on the Billboard Rock Chart, Twenty One Pilots have proven their staying power. They have found mainstream success, and they also have a large, dedicated fan base. As part of that fan base, I was thrilled to catch this show! I attended their show in Sacramento on August 25, and I am here to tell you all about the experience.
This is a show you absolutely can’t miss. The setlist is reflective of how the band embraces their journey alongside their fans. The setlist features eleven songs from Clancy, incorporates their major mainstream 2010s hits: “Stressed Out”, “Ride”, and “Heathens”, and even includes two songs from their 2009 self-titled album in a piano medley. Casual fans attending a show can expect to hear the radio hits that they know and love, and more invested fans can expect to hear deeper cuts from over the years. Twenty One Pilots do a masterful job of weaving the old in with the new. The quality of their live performance is amazing. Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun are extremely talented musicians and performers. Their love of their craft is evident, and they give their all to put on a fantastic show. Plus, this tour is special, because Josh lends his vocals in addition to his skillful drumming. Longtime fans know how exciting it is to see either band member venture out into different avenues of performance, and I can speak on behalf of the whole fandom when I say that we wholeheartedly support the inclusion of Josh’s vocals splicing “Bandito” into “Paladin Strait”.
There is not a dull moment at a Twenty One Pilots show. This tour, the band has made a point to incorporate several opportunities for crowd interaction. Tyler and Josh moved throughout the arena multiple times. Partway through “Car Radio”, Tyler left the stage and appeared in an upper bowl section. He proved that there’s no seat too far away for a chance to get close to the performance. After “Mulberry Street”, Josh left the stage and re-emerged walking down the steps of a lower bowl section. This captivated fans for a few reasons. Tyler diverted the crowd’s attention to the screens beside the stage where Josh could be seen smiling for everyone. At some point while our attention was being held, Josh made a virtually unnoticeable escape from the main stage, and he was wearing his Bandito outfit when he reappeared. He met with Tyler at a B-stage, and the pair united back on the main stage to perform “Navigating”. The attention to detail in the performance and the way the stage setup mirrored the lore was wonderful to see. The video for “Navigating” follows the lore from previous albums, and it shows the band traveling in their Bandito gear. The screens at the main stage provided visuals of Dema to quite literally set the stage. Having the band reunite with Josh as a Bandito and Tyler dressed as Clancy was a meaningful moment. Dedicated fans have been highly invested in the plotline of the lore for years, and Clancy ended the lore with a satisfying pay-off. Prior to the start of the tour, Tyler said, “the show is a flashback”. The show makes you feel like you’re traveling through each album. The audience contributes to this effect as well.
The crowd participation was off the charts. Tyler turned the microphone over to the crowd several times throughout the night, and the crowd did not disappoint a single time. It is difficult to overstate the dedication of Twenty One Pilots fans. Partway through the show, a video of fans singing “The Judge” played as a segue. This video, which was recorded outside the venue early in the afternoon, showed off the love the fans have for this band and the culture they’ve created. Fans were dressed in outfits representing various eras of the band’s lore. There were fans with makeup blacking out their hands and necks for Blurryface, Banditos donning yellow tape to represent Trench, bright and playful displays of pink and blue for Scaled and Icy, and of course a sea of black and red outfits for the current era. My personal favorite costumes included the many children wearing Clancy masks and outfits resembling Tyler’s in the “Overcompensate” video, people dressed as Bishops, and every duo in suits paying homage to “Lavish”’s music video. Several of the fans dressed in suits also accessorized with sunglasses and Capri Suns. The amount of people dressing in themed outfits is one of the most exciting things about modern concert culture. It adds an additional layer of unity and opens more opportunities to talk to people. I exchanged outfit compliments with several people from the time I arrived at Golden 1 Center to the time I left the arena, and it brightened my experience.
There was also an exchange of bracelets and other handmade items. I personally was able to give away all twenty one (yes, the number was intentional) bracelets that I made, and I received ten back. I also received an origami version of Scaled and Icy’s Trash the dragon. The love and care that Twenty One Pilots fans put into all aspects of their fandom warms my heart. The community the band has fostered is thoughtful, endlessly creative, and massively supportive. The fanbase, known as The Clique, is a welcoming environment. It is easy to make friends at a Twenty One Pilots concert, because everyone shares such a deep commitment to making each show as fun and safe of an experience as possible. This concert marked the first time Twenty One Pilots had performed in Sacramento since 2019, and the fans brought the energy to make up for lost time. During the concert, that energy was abundant. The crowd was lively the entire time. Wherever I looked in the arena, I could see people jumping, screaming, and dancing just as enthusiastically as I was. The vibe was immaculate, and the fun was immeasurable.
The show was an intensely emotional experience in the best way. I have no shame in admitting that I cried several times throughout the night. The first instance was prior to the band taking the stage. Every person I had interacted with prior to the show was so lovely, and I was feeling incredibly grateful to have the ability to experience this concert. The next instance was during “The Craving”. “The Craving” is a touching love song which Tyler wrote for his wife, Jenna. The song expresses love, fears, and insecurity. It is as candid as every other glimpse into Tyler’s life as we get from his lyrics, and the moment was overwhelmingly emotional. Much later into the show, I found myself overjoyed and positively emotional at a moment of fan interaction. Tyler moved to a B-stage halfway through the hit, “Ride”, and he brought a young child on stage with him to finish the song. The boy identified himself as “Nathaniel”, though online fans are affectionately referring to him as “Little Clancy”. He did a fantastic job, and the crowd was happy to sing along with him. Tyler was clearly joyous while sharing the stage with this young fan, and it was a beautiful aspect of the show. Naturally, this moment also brought me to tears. Prior to “Oldies Station”, Tyler mentioned that many people in the crowd have been listening to the band for a long time. He dedicated the song to these longtime fans. Twenty One Pilots have made it obvious that this tour, and everything they do, is for the fans. They want to celebrate us as much as we want to celebrate them, and these moments perfectly illustrate that. The band is more than happy to welcome younger fans into their world, and they still have a great appreciation for the fans who have been around for a longer time.
As someone who has been a fan of Twenty One Pilots for over nine years, I will never stop talking about how honored I was to attend a show during the Clancy World Tour. If you are on the fence about attending, this is your sign to buy tickets. This concert was extraordinary from start to finish. The band is constantly working to outdo themselves, and the amount of thoughtful planning that goes into every aspect of their live shows is obvious. The music holds its own, but the costume changes, lights, pyrotechnics, confetti, and the way the band travels throughout the crowd ups the ante of the entertainment value. Twenty One Pilots are one of the greatest bands of our time, and it was a privilege to be in the same arena with them.