It was a scene that would have sent your teenage self jumping for joy eight years ago: Brendon Urie, lead singer for Panic! at the Disco, sending his sweat into a crowd of fans alternately head-banging, fist-pumping, and dancing to music that carved itself into their memories over its most prolific, radio-strangling years.
X103 presented P!ATD at Fountain Square’s Radio Radio on Wednesday night. A line of fans began forming a bit before 6 p.m., all their fingers crossed earnestly in hopes that they would be included in a meet-and-greet with Panic peddlers Urie and Dallon Weekes. (Drummer Spencer Smith is absent from the current tour as he handles personal issues.)
Fans were finally let inside around 8 p.m., and flocked to the stage, getting so close that their knees hit the edge with the slightest dance bob. The band came out and performed hits from 2005 as well as new tracks from their album to be released October 8, titled Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! (Using emphatic punctuation will never be lost on this band, which fleetingly dropped the mark in its name before reinstating it a few years ago.)
The intimacy of both the venue and the performance shone through Panic!’s willingness to joke around on stage and fill awkward pauses (due to technical difficulties) with ’90s cover songs, including an “exclusive” take on Pearl Jam.
Only one thing was missing from the show: Due to Radio Radio’s age restrictions, throngs of heart-throbbing, shrilly-screaming teen girls were not to be found squeezing their way to the front of the stage on this night. They were not on hand to mouth every lyric. But those girls were to be found outside, to be sure, seeking to snap shots of the band as ticket-holders themselves popped in and out for smokes. Sorry, ladies—better luck next time.
X103 presented P!ATD at Fountain Square’s Radio Radio on Wednesday night. A line of fans began forming a bit before 6 p.m., all their fingers crossed earnestly in hopes that they would be included in a meet-and-greet with Panic peddlers Urie and Dallon Weekes. (Drummer Spencer Smith is absent from the current tour as he handles personal issues.)
Fans were finally let inside around 8 p.m., and flocked to the stage, getting so close that their knees hit the edge with the slightest dance bob. The band came out and performed hits from 2005 as well as new tracks from their album to be released October 8, titled Too Weird To Live, Too Rare To Die! (Using emphatic punctuation will never be lost on this band, which fleetingly dropped the mark in its name before reinstating it a few years ago.)
The intimacy of both the venue and the performance shone through Panic!’s willingness to joke around on stage and fill awkward pauses (due to technical difficulties) with ’90s cover songs, including an “exclusive” take on Pearl Jam.
Only one thing was missing from the show: Due to Radio Radio’s age restrictions, throngs of heart-throbbing, shrilly-screaming teen girls were not to be found squeezing their way to the front of the stage on this night. They were not on hand to mouth every lyric. But those girls were to be found outside, to be sure, seeking to snap shots of the band as ticket-holders themselves popped in and out for smokes. Sorry, ladies—better luck next time.
