Twenty One Pilots Energize The Paramount 4-29-14 with NONONO and Hunter Hunted

Twenty One Pilots launched their trip for concerts Spring headlining tour on April 3rd in Knoxville, TN.  Along for the five week journey stopping at a variety of cities in North America are Hunter Hunted and NONONO.  On what has been a cold dreary Spring in New York, the tour stopped at The Paramount in Huntington on Tuesday April 29th to help brighten up the spirits of a packed room of fans.

Opening the night was indie pop California outfit Hunter Hunted.  Lead by Michael Garner (Keys, vocals) and Dan Chang (Guitar, vocals), the band has already toured with the likes of Fitz and the Tantrums, Weezer, American Authors and Fun.

Arriving on stage to a relatively subdued audience many were unsure what to expect from the band, having not heard much of them prior.  The violinist walked out followed by the bassists and drummer.  Eyes were drawn to the stage immediately as each microphone was lit up like Christmas trees.  Cutting right to the chase the band introduced themselves and went into a cover of Lady Danville’s “Better Side”.  Showering the room with sounds of pop, electronic, and hints of alternative rock, the band had the crowd immediately engaged and bobbing their heads to the beat.  That led into an original track of their own titled “Operation”. The young violist lifted off the track giving this audience a vivid image of this band’s fresh sound.  Everyone bounced up and down and Hunter Hunted had won this crowd over.  Garner showed great enthusiasm and passion on stage as he played piano and sang his heart out.  Not only was his tone fantastic, but he also kept his timing perfect with partner Chang.  Their sound was so synchronized it sounded as if their voices were one at points.  This is certainly an exciting band to watch for in the future

Next on the agenda was Swedish alt-pop trio NONONO.  Consisting of singer-songwriter Stina Wäppling with the production duo Astma & Rocwell this band is starting to making some noise.  Casual viewers may even know them and not even realize it with their track “Pumpin Blood” featured in a current Intel commercial.

With a contrasting style, their sound features heavy melodic qualities and abundant amounts of percussion sounds.   Wäppling came across extremely relaxed and you could see she was confident in her abilities.  Moving her body to the rhythm of the notes of “Human Being”  Wäppling was magical on stage. Conversing with the audience,  Wäppling casually introduced their next song, “Jungle”, saying “The world can be a jungle out there, don’t ya think?.  On this track the audience had the chance to witness Astama blister on lead guitar, plucking each string with precision.   Rocwell provided excellent electronic elements to each song as the set went on and many swayed back and forth.  The height of excitement arrived when the band performed the popular single “Pumpin Blood”.  While many refer to the track as the whistle song, it is unquestionably a contagious piece.  NONONO are an extremely unique band well worth checking out.  They will release their debut album Only What We Feel on July 1st via Warner Bros. Records and will be on tour with Foster The People in August.

After being entertained by two talented opening acts, The Paramount was ready for Twenty One Pilots.  This Ohio-based duo of Tyler Joseph and Josh Dun have been making waves in the music industry.  After the release of their third studio album Vessel in 2013 the musicians reached a new plateau of popularity with their interesting mix of  rhymes and synth style.

Lifting off, Twenty One Pilots came out with so much energy you could feel the rush beneath your feet.  With a light show choreographing their song “Implicit Demands For Proof”, Joseph stood atop his piano and Dun on his drum set.  The audience immediately went wild as Dun pounded his drums on the track “Guns for Hands”, bouncing up and down and screaming every word out-loud.  The energy level was in the red and a spectacular sight to see The Paramount come to life in such fashion.

While Twenty One Pilots are difficult to place in a genre, that is exactly what makes them so enduring.  There are elements of ska, rap, pop, and dance all mixed into one.  During the song “Migraine” Joseph fed off the energy of the audience, bringing the excitement level even higher.  By the end of the song he pretended to shoot Dun for the lights to go out and in the middle of the light switch Joseph leaped over his piano only to land by the edge of the stage.  Talk about edge of your seat excitement, the crowd noise was through the roof.

Keeping the thrills coming on “Ode To Sleep” Joseph spit out lyrics like no one’s business.  His ability to perform such complicated rapid rap lyrics along with the emotion in his expressions is breathtaking to see.  All of this was complemented in grand fashion by Dun’s powerful and jolting drumming.  As the audience watched the show unfold it was almost impossible to comprehend how only two guys can make such massive music come to life on stage.  Seeing as the audience age was from a broad range of generations it was fitting when they remixed Tears For Fears “Mad World”.  Paying homage to the early days of New Wave they setup two beat boxes on Joseph’s piano and played the song in their own ear-catching way.

Showing immense stamina with their entire mind and bodies enthralled in this performance, Joseph even crowd surfed the hands of  the audience helping enrich an already amazing performance.  As the sixteen song set came to a close with “Car Radio” and Trees” the only thought on everyone’s mind was that this was unlike any concert experience before.  Twenty One Pilots have tremendous showmanship and are not to be missed.

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