Panic! At The Disco brought an amazing show to Houston’s Toyota Center on September 10. Their 7th studio album, Viva Las Vengeance, marks the band’s first new music since the release of Pray For The Wicked in 2018. The long awaited album also brought forth the global Viva Las Vengeance Tour. Working with the band’s Highest Hopes Foundaton, $1 from each ticket sold in North America (and $1 Euro/$1 GBP in Europe and the UK) will go towards the foundation. High Hopes supports organizations that advocate for human rights for all people and communities subject to discrimination or abuse on the basis of gender, race, religion, sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Toyota Center was full of excited fans anxiously waiting for Panic! At The Disco to hit the stage. The stage set up was one of the most original set ups that I have seen. The pit was actually an enclosed space so that the band could walk around the pit and closer to the rest of the audience. Panic also brought a long wonderful string trio alongside a brass trio. The sound of all the live instrumental musicians was insane. It really did add another layer to the music. It kind of felt more like an orchestral sound which I enjoyed very much.
The show started off with a 10 minute countdown. Everyone counted down the last ten seconds together. The lights suddenly blacked out, and started flashing. Fog began to emerge and encompass the walkway surrounding the pit and the front of the stage. The band started the night with ‘Say Amen’ from Pray for the Wicked . When Brendon Urie finally appeared on the walkway flames shot out and the stage illuminated with red and purple lighting. It was such a cool sight to see. It sort of felt like Panic’s own version of hell.
The middle of the concert was dedicated to the new album Viva Las Vengeance. They performed every single song on the album. This is a big deal because Panic! has never played through an entire album during a tour before. It was such a treat to hear all the live orchestrated parts. This album has a sort of a Queen’s A Night at the Opera vibe to it. I am not sure if it was an homage to the first album or to Queen but every song had an orchestral interlude between each song. In the first album A Fever You Can’t Sweat Out, Panic had a lot of interludes and drawn out orchestrated intro’s so this performance was very reminiscent of that. At times the way the string trio was lit up was reminiscent of Queen’s iconic Bohemian Rhapsody video where only their heads and a small portion of their torsos are ”floating” against a black background. My favorite performance of this portion of the show was “Sad Clown.” The way the stage kept panning the lights left to right and the full sound of the band was awesome. It was really eye-catching and I could not stop staring.
After performing the entirety of Viva, Panic! segwayed into the last portion of their performance. “Girls/Girls/Boys” is a staple song on every Panic! show. Every tour stop the @patdhearts, a group of Panic! fans, volunteer to cut out thousands of small multicolored hearts for this song specifically to stand in solidarity with the LGBT community. The hearts are used to cover the flash on your phone so that the venue is covered in a rainbow of hearts. It was so beautiful to see. In the words of Brendon Urie “Love is not a choice!”
Of course everyone’s favorite song is the emo anthem that is “I Write Sins Not Tragedies.” The intro to this was pretty cool, Urie had a whole 1920’s vibe with the shimmery curtains as a backdrop and the “big band” behind the singer. Everyone knew exactly what song it was as soon as they plucked the iconic intro. Brendon began to sing and immediately stopped in awe and just let us sing most of the song. His jaw was literally on the floor and he couldn’t help but to just watch us sing with a big smile across his face as he said “Holy fucking shit! I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! DUDE! MY JAW IS FIGURATIVELY ON THE FLOOR THAT WAS INSANE! 17 years we’ve played this song and it’s never gone harder than that. Thank you.” It was totally awesome and I’m glad we blew him away!
The Viva La Vengeance tour was so much fun. I have been to most Panic shows and this one by far was my favorite. The quality of the band and stage was just perfect. I am so happy they went with a live orchestra. It really tied everything together.Everyone enjoyed themselves onstage and they really meshed well. The pyrotechnics were amazing, the stage design was amazing, it was all just so good. Make sure to check out Panic! At The Disco’s new album, Viva Las Vengeance, if you haven’t already!
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