Panic! at the Disco
Photos By: Matt Dominguez
By: David Israel
It turns out, when you say doors are at 7:30 at a show on a college campus, the first band plays nearly immediately. Sorry, Youngblood Hawke, I was really hoping to see you a third time. I imagine your set was as fun as ever, incorporating the drumming between songs to keep things moving. Next time.
The good news is that the set wasn’t missed by the SDSU Open Air amphitheater full of an audience with a median age of about 15 and a half. Based on their t-shirts (clearly, they have never seen PCU, and I’ll use nearly any excuse to use that clip) they were there to see Panic! at the Disco, but they put on a warm reception for Walk the Moon as well.
Walk the Moon played a nice set, punctuating songs from their last album with new material, most notable “Shut Up and Dance!,” an upbeat number I wouldn’t be surprised to hear on Top 40 radio soon. The guitarist broke in to the Mario theme between songs midway through the set, amusing the parents stuck bringing their teenage daughters to the show. I liked their set more than I expected to, and legitimately look forward to hearing their new album (which we’ll likely review on this very website!).
Old themes was, well, a theme, as Walk the Moon entered to the Game of Thrones theme song, and Panic! at the Disco entered to “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly,” playing over a video of kids having a pop-gun shootout. The band burned through some old hits, getting to new single “Miss Jackson” eleven songs in. The band sounded good, and put on a great stage show- the lighting and other visuals were on point, especially from the cheap seats up high.
The band put on easily the best cover I’ve seen in a while, playing through the entirety of Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody.” While this is the band’s Gospel tour, this is the closest the set ever felt to being church. The band ended on “Nearly Witches (Ever Since We Met…)” before coming back for a three song encore, much to the appreciation of the young crowd, much of which was at their first concert (thanks to an inquisition from Walk the Moon). Panic! ended on a strong note, blasting “I Write Sings Not Tragedies” loud enough to be the soundtrack to the new freshmen on the Aztec campus.
Be sure to check out the photos below from Matt Dominguez, who worked hard to get those photos while simultaneously staying out of the way of the pit behind him.