twenty | one | pilots

twenty | one | pilots
December 21st, 2012 // The Riviera Theater // Chicago, IL
Photos and Words by Ashley Osborn 

As I headed towards The Riviera theater (running very late), I was eager. It was the last show I would be attending/photographing in 2012 and I had never seen Fueled By Ramen’s newest catch, twenty | one | pilots. Though, I had heard nothing but phenomenal things about their performance and I dig their music, I still was curious to see how their unique style of music would transfer over to a live setting.

As the dynamic due stepped onstage to greet an already rowdy Chicago crowd, vocalist Tyler Joseph and drummer Josh Dun seemed calm. Tyler spoke a bit into the microphone, giving the crowd a warning that their music was different but they were excited to play. Immediately after, he stepped offstage and Josh walked towards his drums and turned around only to reveal a skeleton mask. Right after, their tune “Ode To Sleep” began and Tyler came running onto stage, leaped off of the piano and landed front and center. The duo clearly has this down to a tee and the crowd flipped a switch (in a good way)… to say the least.

While the duo was transitioning to their third song, “Screen,” Josh noticed that Tyler had forgotten his Uke and grabbed it for him. Tyler began laughing and thanked Josh onstage – in turn he took a bow and the duo giggled (pictured below). It was clear that these two must be as close, if not more, than brothers. After, Tyler got the crowd to sing and repeat the bridge “We’re broken, we’re broken, we’re broken people,” only to prepare them for later in the song.

As their set continued the band played several more songs off of their upcoming Fueled By Ramen full-length debut, vessel (out on January 8th). The album is currently streaming online and a full review will be in our new issue (released on January 7th). To say the least, the album is a breath of fresh air to an overpopulated music industry.

The highlight of the set for me had to of been when Tyler gave an introduction to ‘Car Radio.’ He said that the song meant a lot to him and that he was going to ask the crowd to open up down the middle “in a polite way.” The song began and his vocals flowed through the room with ease. When the song sped up, he entered the crowd only to dance not only down the middle, but somehow climb about the entire theater and run across the balcony left to right, come back down, enter the crowd again and then end up back onstage. All in a matter of a minute or two. The band’s energy is simply phenomenal.

The band closed with their single,  “Guns For Hands,” and to say the least left the crowd with jaws dropped. I heard gossip all around me. “Who the f**k is this band?!” and “This is literally my new favorite band” echoed right into my ears from my neighbors. You’ve got to catch this band next year – add them to the top of your list IMMEDIATELY and check out their Facebook page here.