Hearing Echos

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September 9th was the start of the Blurryface Tour and the first stop was Washington DC! Finish Ticket, from California, opened up the electric evening, an evening that had people lining up over twelve hours before doors. The line sadly was not for them but the next two bands on the ticket, first of which was Echosmith! Echosmith has grown throughout the last few years. They’ve shed the shyness they once had as an opening act for Tonight Alive and now have an explosive command of the stage, something they must have picked up on their rounds of festivals these past few years. The family band is no stranger to large venues and felt right at home at Echostage.

Echosmith started off with “Let’s Love” before moving on to “Come Together“, the first song they wrote. Toward the end of the set the band went acoustic to sing their current single “Bright” as a campfire sing-along. The crowd was hush as the four piece sang to a room with no microphones, that was until the crowd echoed back the chorus and finished the hit in unison.

The performance was spectacular as usual, although there wasn’t much new since their last few tours. Sydney channeled her inner Taylor Swift and sang wonderfully. Noah busted all the moves as he zipped from one side of the stage to the other. Graham sat quietly in the back giving the driving kick of the bands indie pop sound. Josh Murty kept the crowd pumped up, doing a great job of filling in for Jamie, you could hardly see or hear a difference. Jamie could not be at the show, he was spending time with his wife and they are about to have a baby. (Congrats!) The Sierota’s (plus Murty) warmed up the Echostage, and got much of the crowd dancing and singing about wanting to be cool kids. One thing is for certain, this band has loads of talent and with their youth, great things will be coming from them in the future.

Finally the hour came when Twenty One Pilots came to the stage. The crowd erupted in energy unseen in the previous acts, almost ferocity. Twenty One Pilots’ Josh and Tyler gave everything they had to the crowd and the crowd gave it all back a million fold. The best word to describe the energy in the room would have been: explosive. The two decided to try and fit as much of their work into one solid show. They managed to do that and their fans (The Clique) managed to sing everything back with a unwavering passion.

TwentyOne Pilots started with “Heavydirtysoul”, which segwayed over into “Stressed Out” and also “Guns for Hands”. The band managed to cram in most of their previous albums by doing an hour and a half mash up of their work. They had a standard structure of songs but some included medleys referencing similar material. It was genius. They managed to find a way to give the shout to the fans that have been there since day one, while still keeping it recent to the newest members of The Clique. Highlights of the medleys included Pantaloon, Forest, House of Gold, and their cover of Elvis’ “Can’t Help Falling In Love With You” all leading up to their emotional and exciting last few song “Car Radio”, “Goner” and “Trees”.

If you haven’t seen Twenty One Pilots live, this may be the tour to do so with such a diverse ticket. Albeit and slightly odd the bands all managed to compliment each other nicely and pull off a fantastic show. The acts gave it their all, the fans sang every line, the visual aspects of Echosmith and Twenty One Pilots greatly demonstrated their aesthetic. It was by far a fantastic show.