My Taste In Music Is Your Face

This is going to be something a little different for me. This blog is usually where I get all nostalgic or talk about tabletop roleplaying games, or movies, or my obsession with The X-Files, or something like that. I don't often venture into the realms of music, despite it being quite a major part of my life.

Bear with me though, there are some strange narrative elements coming up that you may not be aware of, so stick with it. You may like it! If not, things will return to gaming next post, I promise.

Photo of the stage on the Clancy tour, showing the city of Dema. 

Over the last couple of years my wife has become completely and utterly obsessed with the band Twenty One Pilots. The wonders of Kerrang! TV (oh, how I miss that) showed the video for Holding On To You, and it seems to have latched itself into her subconscious, because when the video for Stressed Out hit circulation, we recognised the band and (intrigued) started watching the videos and checking out the rest of their music. 

The Music Is The Story, the Story is the Music

Who knew it was going to be such a rabbit hole! Listening to the songs, certain phrases would occur over and over, mentioning Bishops, Dema, Banditos, and something called Vialism. With a bit of research, Debs opened a whole can of worms and told me to look into it too... It seems that for the last ten years (to the day actually, as the album that really started this narrative, Blurryface, is ten years old today as I type this) they have been telling an epic story. 

Dema is a city on the continent known as Trench. Within the city are nine Bishops who control each of the nine districts, leading a religion known as Vialism. There is a resistance group, cute alien things called Neds, and major characters Clancy (Tyler Joseph in the band) and the Torchbearer (Josh Dun in the band). 

As you watch the music videos, some of them are 'Lore' videos, telling the story of Clancy's escape from Dema, being dragged back by Nico (one of the Bishops), being forced to perform as propaganda, escaping again, gaining the psychic ability to reanimate the dead like the Bishops, and returning to Dema to take down the Bishops. It's all pretty epic.

Letters from the Bishops, and a map of Trench and Dema

However, it's not just the music videos and some of the lyrics that build this Lore and the story. Some of the merchandise includes clues and codes, the latest album ("Clancy") had a digital version with a booklet full of clues and puzzles. 

As you can imagine, we were intrigued and fascinated. Delving even deeper and listening closely to the lyrics, you can tell that not only is this clever and detailed world building, but it also has a deeper meaning about mental health, and personal struggles. Probably why it resonates with so many fans.

The Few, The Proud, And The Emotional

I'd foolishly bought tickets for the concert over a year ago, initially thinking it was for last May until I tried to book the time off from work... d'oh. And then, they announced they were bringing their touring exhibition with them. Props and artefacts from their history – stage costumes, props from music videos, original notes of the lyrics. All broken down by album or tour. Debs' eyes lit up at the opportunity, so we had to go to that as well...

Debs posing in front of the "Blurryface 10th Anniversary" posters that lined the approach

We arrived good and early at the O2 in London, what was once 'the Millennium Dome'. We'd only been here once before when the Game of Thrones exhibition was here, and strangely enough the Fan Premier Exhibition (FPE) was in the same upper bar area of the arena. 

There was a big queue (which surprised me) for the exhibition, but the staff were all brilliant and explained everything to us. We got our "Ned's" bags of goodies and wristbands, and went in...

Tyler's handwritten lyrics for one of my favourite tracks
"At the Risk of Feeling Dumb"

The queues working their way around the exhibition. Bishop robes (red) in the next bit!

Bishop robes for eight of the nine Bishops (the robes of the ninth were on the floor...)

Debs and Me on the "Stressed Out" trikes. 

More cabinets of clippings, drumheads, outfits, and more

There was a heck of a lot to see, and there are another 150+ photos on my phone of the exhibition alone! At the end of the exhibition, there was an area with a bar, and loads of cushions on the floor so you could sit and chill. There was also a stamping station, where you could stamp designs onto the yellow bandana that came in your "Ned's" bag of stuff. There was also a place to add yellow and red tape to your outfit, add a message to the band on a flag, and (of course) the continuing lore...

We went on the second to last night of the tour, so set up in the last area was a Bandito tent with another letter fragment. There have been letter fragments at each concert venue, with morse codes and clues to build upon the story. 

The Bandito tent with the letter fragment pinned to the front

The following night, the tent was gone, with another clue. The flags were burned, or covered in black... 

See what I mean about the cool lore stuff?

We hung around for a bit, Debs decorated her bandana, and I chatted to a few of the older fans who were there – I honestly thought I was going to be the oldest person in the whole building, but it just goes to prove that their music seems to appeal to all ages. 

Eventually we headed out, and got a well needed cuppa before starting to queue to get into the gig itself.

Welcome Back To Trench

The gig itself was amazing. The venue was smaller than I thought it was going to be (I honestly thought it was going to be so large you wouldn't see anything) and we were lucky enough to be front row of the seated section to one side, right next to one of the "B-Stages".

Josh Dun, right up close!! 

There were a couple of really clever bits that stood out among the rest of the awesome. There was a moment where Tyler (wearing a balaclava) looks close into the camera that's on the stage so that the screens at the side affirm that it's him. He jumps into a trapdoor behind the middle riser on the stage, then appears in the crowd at the top of one of the balconies. You think, "ah, it's a body double" and then he takes the balaclava off, and it's him! I know there was some clever switcheroo deception going on, but it was awesome. 

The other really dramatic bit was when Josh appears in the crowd at the back of the auditorium, carrying the flaming torch - he is the Torchbearer. He walks through the crowd to the podium where Tyler is, and hands him his Clancy jacket. They head to the stage, and the stage looks like the city of Dema (see the pic at the top of this blog). It's so flippin' epic. 

(Of course, in a change to the plot, the final night - the one after we were there – Tyler doesn't take the jacket... and the crowd goes nuts). 

And then the city starts burning! 

Told you it was flippin' epic!!

Tyler, right up close!!

In the end, the concert finished with the traditional last song - "Trees". They set up small plinths in the middle of the crowd so they could both drum the final moments, while red confetti exploded from the roof onto the audience. (Of course, this night, the drums were chained down as it was the gig after the one in Manchester where a "fan" walked out of the venue with one of the drums. It made it into the music press, and the fans rallied to track the drum down. I don't know the details, but the tour team posted a video of them getting the drum back...)

And then, we headed home. 

In Time I Will Leave The City

That kinda wraps it up. Except... the tour ended and the social media continued. Cryptic letters were spelling something out, and a closing eye graphic and dimming the opacity of their website. There are theories that the whole of the concert is told as a recap, a flashback, in the moment Clancy closes his eyes while Blurryface grabs him by the throat (see the Paladin Strait video below). That rallying of "why you fight" just before you take action... 

It all built up to today's announcement that there's a new album coming in September which may finish the storyline. Debs is already overexcited at the prospect of new songs so soon after the tour. 

Overall, it was awesome. And I worry that all of that showmanship, storylines, and mystery has spoiled it for everyone else I wanted to see live. We'll see... next month it's Nine Inch Nails!