twenty one pilots make their mark at Mad Cool with the most ambitious and fiery performance of the whole festival...
As Halsey points out onstage some six hours earlier, there sure are a lot of clikkies in the crowd today. Indeed, the front rows of the vast Region Of Madrid stage have been bustling all afternoon with face-painted fans in custom-made costumes, battling the Spanish sun to ensure prime position for their heroes. And with a 2-1 win over Belgium still settling in, the tens of thousands here are already in party mode, and twenty one pilots have just the ingredients to send things stratospheric.
“Thank you for letting a couple of American guys play your festival,” gushes Tyler Joseph, seemingly unaware he’s putting on the most impressive set of the entire weekend, having just surfed his way around the crowd on a platform, swinging his light-up mic overhead like a beacon built by Adam Lazzara.
For years, Tyler and co-conspirator Josh Dun have been continuously proving themselves as one of the most ambitious and creative acts going, and now they’ve graduated from arenas to headlining huge outdoor shows of their own, they’re finally showing the world what they’ve always been capable of. It’s not just the sheer amount of pyro (although there is a lot, and TØP are curiously the only headliner this weekend to use any), it’s the obvious love of stagecraft and storytelling that elevates this from a bunch of bells and whistles to something much more powerful.
Rolling through the swaggering Heathens, the punky Next Semester and Tear In My Heart, there’s little room to breathe, as one song flows into the next, like a stream of consciousness, creating an all-engulfing atmosphere. Respite does come as things move into the second act, however, as Josh appears from the darkness in Trench-coded gear, carrying aloft a torch that remains centre-stage for the rest of the show, blazing as bright and hot as the fevered passion flowing from the crowd. All of this serves for the big, fiery spectacle of Jumpsuit (with a dash of City Walls thrown in), as Tyler sits at his piano while the world burns around him.
And then the set somehow manages to find another gear, taking adrenaline and endorphin levels into the red zone. The evergreen Heavydirtysoul opens the hearts and chests of Madrid, with such an explosive ending that Tyler has to change his shoes, before Josh departs the stage entirely to climb a nearby camera tower to hammer through Drum Show on a hidden kit, remaining up there for RAWFEAR as Tyler finds himself back in the crowd, trying on a variety of hats and glasses. It seems no matter how big the stage, twenty one pilots don’t actually need it, so much so that for Doubt the frontman ends up on top of the sound tower to survey his kingdom.
On his way back to stage, things take an even bigger left turn, as Tyler brings security guard Mohamed up to sing the infectious, wavy whoas for Ride. Then for Tally he throws in the refrain from Cher’s Believe. And then Jack White appears on-screen offering his permission for the pair to cover Seven Nation Army to a rapturous reception. It’s all bonkers and it’s all brilliant.
As things move into the crescendo of Stressed Out and Trees, to send Madrid dancing and singing la la la long into the night, it’s clear that twenty one pilots – now more than ever – belong here. The strength, scope and scale of their show can no longer be contained within mere arena walls, they are legit festival headliners now. Surely, after they bring this career-spanning epic to All Points East next month, a Download call-up can’t be far behind.
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