My ears are still ringing, my feet are still sore and I’m still finding pieces of confetti everywhere. In any other situation I might be complaining, but without these reminders,  I’d most definitely be in denial that I got to see one of my favorite bands perform this past weekend. My family took me on a birthday road trip to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to see Twenty One Pilots and it was everything I could’ve dreamed of. It was amazing, incredible, spectacular and one hell of a show.

I’ve been listening to Twenty One Pilots for years, but prior to this past weekend, I had never seen them live. I’ve been following them and their concerts and tours through social media for awhile and knew from the photos and videos that it was the kind of show I HAD to have on my concert bucket list. When I discovered the band would be playing close to Minnesota around the time of my birthday, I had only one gift in mind and the perfect birthday wish.

Those who know me know how much I love concerts and road trips, so for my 20th birthday, the only thing I I wanted was to mix the two. To my excitement, my birthday wish came true. My parents were down for a weekend away and they got me tickets to the show. I went with my siblings and it was so fun to experience everything about the concert with them by my side. We jam out to them constantly so it was awesome to finally sing along to our favorite songs with the band merely feet away from us.

 

 

Twenty One Pilots is a band/duo made up of Josh Dun (drummer) and Tyler Joseph (lead vocalist, keyboardist and ukuleleist). According to the band (and wikipedia), their purpose for making music is to make people think, as well as encourage them to find joy in what they come to believe in life. This is so evident in their songs, performance and overall show. They’re so unique and different, and they put an interesting spin on their shows that I love.

Their music is so deep. As a writer, I love word play and seeing how people, especially musicians, craft together lyrics into something so meaningful and incredible. The fact that this band’s music can be so upbeat and fun one moment, then really complex and intense the next, makes me love them even more. I love peeling back the layers of their music and discovering what messages they intended their songs and show to convey. They’re not just another band that sings pop music about love, they sing about the realness of life and it’s soo good.

But with some of those deeper messages, you have to add some crazy elements to lighten the energy again … so to do so, they had a life-size hamster ball. I couldn’t stop laughing. They seriously expected the audience to let this thing crowd surf over us with a person inside us. It was so wild.

I guess typically Tyler is the one who goes in it, but his brother-in-law was at the show and to carry on a tradition of him crowd surfing when he’s in the audience, Tyler brought him onstage to have him enter the big red hamster ball and run across the crowd. Name another band that would do that.

To my astonishment, Twenty One Pilots also had their drummer play on a drum set platform held above by the general-admission fans (we were so close!!!). They later also had their lead singer play a song while being held up by those same fans. Then at the end, they did it again at the same time while a sea of red confetti exploded. The atmosphere the entire night  was full of pure adrenaline and concert highs.

From the intense drumming, to the smoke and lights, to the disappearing and then reappearing at other ends of the arena and the hundreds of red confetti that sprinkled over us near the finale, this was a concert like none other. Tyler and Josh are seriously bringing a new level to the music scene and they’re setting the bar high. Their songs can hardly be classified into one genre, and their shows can’t be placed into one simple box either. There was a little bit of everything that left the audience continuously guessing and wondering what might come next — I absolutely loved it.

But a concert isn’t only about who you’re seeing, it’s who you’re seeing it with. This video below was by far one of my highlights from the night. My younger siblings are just as concert crazy as me.

To say we had a good time is an understatement. The whole experience was unbelievable. The end of the show was especially phenomenal. They played “Trees,” which is currently one of my favorite songs by them, and getting to see it live like this made my life.

Some more highlights:

A HUGE thank you to my parents for always giving me the best birthdays ever. You guys have taught me how to truly celebrate and live life to the fullest. Thanks for putting up with my love for concerts and driving me across state lines just to see my favorite bands.

It was a birthday I will always remember. Love you both lots xoxoxo.