Quick disclaimer: I can't figure out how to flip the photos taken on an iPhone, so sorry if the pictures are sideways. Also, some of the pictures are not mine, so thank you to my friends at the concert who sent me amazing pictures for this article!!
Pantherfest
On September 4th, 2015 I saw two of my favorite musical artists live at UW-Milwaukee's annual Pantherfest concert. Hoodie Allen opened up for Twenty One Pilots at the Marcus Amphitheater, and one of my friends was nice enough to get my roommate Allison and I tickets. As soon as the lineup was announced, I knew I had to go; both artists have been gaining popularity in the last year and months, and it would be an amazing concert. In fact, Pantherfest was Twenty One Pilot's first concert since preforming live on the MTV Video Music Awards with rapper ASAP Rocky.
Twenty One Pilots has a very dedicated fan base affectionately called the "Skeleton Clique," so I knew people would be camped out all day at the Summerfest grounds for good seats. The seating was general admission, first come first served; they gave out colored wristbands at the entrance as to which section you would be sitting in. I arrived at 6 pm, (the doors opened at 7 pm), and I ended up being in section 2. We waited in line for our section with our green wristbands, and were led in in an orderly fashion. Our seats were in the middle section, 3rd row behind the pit. We had a great view of the stage and over everyone in the pit's heads.
Hoodie Allen took the stage at 7:45, and his energy was unbelievable. Hoodie played for about 40 minutes, doing multiple covers of different early 2000's punk rock songs, such as Blink-182. He evidently did his research, because he began to freestyle & shouted out different UW-Milwaukee dorms, Milwaukee hot spots, and even made fun of Marquette University. Hoodie was a great opening act, he acknowledged Twenty One Pilots are his friends multiple times and even apologized for not going to Milwaukee on his tour this past summer.
Twenty One Pilots opened with "Heavydirtysoul" off of their newest album, Blurryface. They typically open with Heavydirtysoul, so it was expected, but the rest of their set list was basically unknown; as I said previously, their last performance before Pantherfest was the VMA's. Twenty One Pilots embark on their fall tour in just a few weeks, so it was rumored they'd try out some new/different songs live. And they did. And it was amazing.
They played a fair mix of songs from Blurryface (2015) and Vessel (2013), including songs they have never played live and old classics. Both of the boys wore ski masks when they first came onstage, as well as their traditional face paint. The stage consisted of Josh Dun's drum set & a piano for Tyler to use for some songs. Tyler also showed off his ukulele skills for a few songs.
Both boys interacted with the crowd quite a bit throughout the set. Josh has a drumming platform that the crowd in the pit holds up that he went on twice. Tyler made a reference about the "Meijer" sign at the Amphitheater, saying we are all the same because we are all Midwest people. In typical Tyler fashion, he climbed onto a tall platform in the middle of the venue, near the sound board, during Car Radio.
Both Tyler and Josh went on platforms held up by the crowd for their last song, "Trees," and it was a magical moment when confetti erupted in the Marcus Amphitheater.
Josh and Tyler have been to Milwaukee a few times in the past, Summerfest 2013 and The Rave last fall, but they are not coming back on their fall tour this year. They put on a show that was amazing beyond words, definitely once of the best concerts that I have ever been to. I'm so glad I got the opportunity to see them at Pantherfest.
