Twenty One Pilots in Chile: when the wait is worth it
Review by Val
Photos by @andieborie
Nine years ago, Twenty One Pilots made their debut in Chile within the Lollapalooza lineup. From that moment on fans have been waiting for a solo show, but instead, they were brought back with Lollapalooza 2019, and then in Lollapalooza 2023 as a last minute patch for Blink-182.
Tyler Joseph and Joshua Dun’s fandom is not to be looked down upon in Chile or Latin America, in fact, the last few years it’s been slowly growing. For this exact reason it was impossible to hide the excitement and expectations when what was thought to be a never-ending wait, that ended with the announcement of «The Clancy World Tour» and a date in Estadio Bicentenario de La Florida. Which was this past Sunday, January 19th.
The temperature reached 94 degrees (34°C), in the suffocating summer heat that buries Santiago. Even so, the Clikkies were loyal and intense since Friday night, camping outside the stadium, in the eternal fight for a barricade.
Five minutes left until 9pm, the stadium is full. The fans were anxious, and the waiting would be prolonged by a few minutes with the first surprise of the night.
At 9:13, a snippet of the lyrics from «Midwest Indigo» resonated in the speakers, saying “what’s your ETA?”. Anyone who knows the song, knows that after this comes “Two minutes!” Which made fans understand that the show was starting at 9:15, and that is exactly what happened.
The show began with «Overcompensate», a grand entrance where Tyler jumped into the first platform right above the front rows of fans. Immediately the show continued with «Holding onto you», which blended into «Vignette», both high energy songs that set the tone for the rest of the show, filled with interactions with the audience, pyrotechnics, and many emotions.
«Vignette» finishes with a synth solo, an instrument that Tyler pulls from underneath a platform onstage. At this point in the show the scenery on the main stage seems very simple, big screens, the band logo, and the lights that change colors according to the era they’re playing. But as we saw later on, this was just a facade.
Next up is «Car Radio», already considered a classic by the duo, and this is where everything becomes more dynamic, to the ones of us who familiarize ourselves with the different shows, the lore and the music of Twenty One Pilots. We know there are things that never change, like the end of «Trees» with the drums. But at the same time, there are different details in every show, for example, where Josh and Tyler will appear from to finish a song? In this case, the last chorus in «Car Radio», where Tyler surprised us by climbing the structures of the screens.
This is followed by «The Judge»’s intro, showing footage of the fans from the same morning, talking about how finally they got solo shows in Latin America, how happy they were, showing off their outfits and singing «The Judge», clearly the next song on the setlist. But just before that, Tyler makes a pause to confess that he and Josh are very fond of Chile: “This is the first Headline show we’ve had in Santiago! Josh and I really like it here.” After this, the entire song consisted of showing fans in the front rows, their signs, their screams and their passion.
The softness of «The Craving (Jenna’s version)» with Josh on the synths and Tyler on the ukulele blended into «Tear In My Heart». Next, «Backslide» had Joseph running from one screen to another, in front of each screen there’s a chair, in which Tyler sits relaxed while singing, that section ends with «Shy Away».
Before performing «Heathens», Tyler says: “This song doesn’t go as hard anymore, let’s see if we can make it make flames again” and then he teaches us the chorus of the song. The energy continues with «Next Semester», which ends with Tyler and the ukulele, leading into «Routines in the Night», where they begin to use the secondary stages.
The so-called “B Stages” are separated in the pit section, one for Tyler and one for Josh. Then, the singer is left alone on his personal stage to play «Addict With a Pen», «Migraine», «Forest» y «Fall Away», all accompanied by the piano, being probably the most emotional part of the show.
This section ends with «Mulberry Street», where Tyler tried to get the entire Bicentenario Stadium to play with the camera flashes with him.
Back on the main stage, in what could be the first Encore, comes the most lore-filled section of the show. The whole scenography is revealed and, suddenly, we are in Dema, the fictional country where the universe that the band has created with their latest albums takes place, a grey and desolated world. «Navigating», «Nico and the Niners» and «heavydirtysoul» are in this section, followed by «My Blood», «Guns for Hands» and «Lavish», which ends with Josh showing the “Santiago” t-shirt he was wearing and taking it off to then play around on the stage with Tyler for a while and, eventually, throwing it to the audience.
«Ride» is the next song, where Tyler runs up to the b-stage again to bring up a kid named Martin to sing the last chorus of the song, an interaction that was loved by the audience. The next song is «Paladin Strait», where we can hear Josh Dun’s vocals. From now on, all the backing vocals are sung by Josh.
This leads to the last section of the concert, the second and final encore, we could say. It begins with the energy of «Jumpsuit» followed by «Midwest Indigo» and «Stressed Out», where pyrotechnics once again take the main stage.
Before ending the show with «Trees», Tyler speaks to the audience again with a new confession: “This might just be my favorite show” and promises that they will be back soon, a promise we know they will keep.
The Clancy Tour in Chile is certainly the best way to start this year’s concert season, setting the bar high for the shows to come and definitely making it clear that Chile loves the duo. “They are twenty one pilots and so are we.”
