PANIC! AT THE DISCO AT WELLS FARGO CENTER IN PHILADELPHIA
Panic! At the Disco brought their “Viva Las Vengeance Tour” to the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, PA in celebration of their most recently released album Viva Las Vengeance. Support for the tour came from Jake Wesley Rogers and Marina. Despite what seemed like a harsh response to the album, fans in Philadelphia were in for a really great treat with this show.
Starting off the night was Jake Wesley Rogers, a musician and songwriter from Missouri. The larger than life personality fit really well on the large Wells Fargo stage and he put on a great performance to get the crowd going. Hitting the stage after was one of my personal favorite artists, Marina. It was no surprise that Marina played a killer set. She had me and other attendees screaming the words to her catchy tunes. I was especially excited to see that she played “Hermit the Frog”, a song I have never gotten to see live before from her first album.
When it was time for Panic! At the Disco to take the stage, the audience was wildly cheering. I will start with a short disclaimer: for fans attending the tour, the stage has an interesting set up. The back of the stage is set up as normal, but a large rectangular catwalk comes out onto the floor. In the middle of the rectangular catwalk is the standing GA pit. The stage is TALL and there’s a ton of production. For fans looking for tickets to this tour I highly recommend sitting further away or higher up in the venue to really experience the full immensity of this show. Several attendees sitting right near the edge of the catwalk actually expressed a bit of frustration to me because of how tall the stage was. From a further view however, all I can say is holy cow! Panic really went all out with this tour in making sure they were putting on a SHOW.
As the band came out, they opened up with “Say Amen (Saturday Night)”, and I could not have thought of a more perfect opener to set the mood for the night. They had the audience screaming along and dancing to the familiar catchy tune. The first chunk of their setlist included songs from their catalog prior to the new album. You could expect to hear songs such as “Don’t Threaten Me With a Good Time” and “Miss Jackson” during this part of the set.
The band then transitioned to the part of the set that would include the new album being played in full (with an outfit change from Brendon Urie of course). It was really disheartening to see the energy wane during this section a little bit, because the album translated really well live. This album was definitely made to be experienced during this full live show. In addition to the band, a small string section also joined them on stage which added an extra layer to the performance. During this set the visuals on the screens behind the band were larger than life, and the crowd got to experience some epic production in the form of fire shooting from the bottom of the stage, sparklers raining down, beautiful flashy lights, lasers, and steam/fog. The band worked the large catwalk with finesse while performing the album. I was highly impressed by the stamina they have, as this does not sound like an easy album to perform live. It seems like quite a strenuous stretch, so to see them do it and to think that they are doing this on a nightly basis was mind blowing. This is especially important to note in regards to vocalist Brendon Urie. The higher notes in his range were coming out with such ease as he wow’d the audience with his vocal runs. His pitch for this show was also pretty spot on, making it even more spectacular. It’s clear to anyone in attendance that this was a performance from a well seasoned group.
After the live album, we had yet another transition to get us ready for more tracks from the older eras of the band (with Brendon’s final outfit change of the night). This part of the set started off with “Girls/Girls/Boys”, and the amazing visuals definitely didn’t stop here. Patrons found colored paper hearts at their seats with instructions to hold up against their phone flashlights during the song. Each section had a different color and the result was a beautiful rainbow of lights around the arena. That coupled with confetti falling from the ceiling made for a visually gorgeous view. During this part of the show, Urie also took to the piano to play the fan favorite, “Nine in the Afternoon”. As “Death of a Bachelor” started, he showed he was absolutely not done yet with phenomenal vocals. Also, we can’t forget the iconic “I Write Sins Not Tragedies”. As the night came to a close, Panic performed “High Hopes”, leaving Philly with an air of excitement, and longing for the set to continue on.
If you have a chance to experience at least one date on this tour, I would highly recommend making the trip out. It’s so wild to see how large Panic! At the Disco has grown over the years and it’s incredible to see them now with the level of production that they’ve brought out. Even through all of their musical style changes, Panic! At the Disco is showing that they’re here to stay and keep putting on a show that will knock your socks off.
Nicole DiBenedetto is a photographer based out of New Jersey. She likes making new friends and meeting new people so catch her out in the pit and say hi!