Panic! at City Hall Plaza

Jennifer Dill ‘17 / Emertainment Monthly Staff Writer
Copy Edited By: Isabella Dionne

Panic filled the city last Thursday as Las Vegas natives Panic! at the Disco played a free show at City Hall Plaza.

Just a short walk from Emerson College, City Hall flooded with eager fans and curious onlookers. Around 5 p.m., the event sponsor Radio 92.9’s DJ Petro took the stage and enveloped the crowd in renditions of the radio’s most popular songs. He also included remixes of some classic songs, such as “Hollaback Girl” and the theme song from Fresh Prince of Bel Air.

The crowd filling the Plaza. Photo by Jennifer Dill.
The crowd filling the Plaza. Photo by Jennifer Dill.

By 6:30, the crowd was pumped and shaking with excitement. As soon as bassist Dallon Weekes, guitarist Kenny Harris, drummer Dan Pawlovich, and the band’s only remaining original member, vocalist Brendon Urie, took the stage, the plaza erupted in cheers and applause.

Instantly, the band kicked things off with “Vegas Lights,” a hit from their 2013 album Too Weird to Live, Too Rare to Die. Everyone kept their energy up as they danced to the band’s second song, aptly titled “Time to Dance,” and the following “The Ballad of Mona Lisa,” both from their 2011 album Vices and Virtues.

The crowd only got more hyped, as the night went on and the darkened sky provided a perfect template for the band’s light display. Songs such as “Hallelujah,” “Girls/Girls/Boys,” “Miss Jackson,” and “This is Gospel” rang through the plaza, eliciting loud screams and enthusiastic singing.

The loudest screams shook the crowd when the band began the opening riff of their 2008 hit, “Nine in the Afternoon” from the band’s second album Pretty. Odd. Though Pretty. Odd. did not originally win over many of the band’s earliest fans, the iconic single has stood the test of time, remaining one of their best-known songs. It has also gained fame for being the only song played live from the album in recent years.

Panic! even entertained the older members of their audience by playing a few cover songs, including Queen’s “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Journey’s “Any Way You Want It,” and AC/DC’s “You Shook Me All Night Long.” Before playing “Bohemian Rhapsody” and showing off his incredible vocal range and falsetto, Urie joked, “We wrote this song backstage, hope you like it.” By the end of the night, City Hall Plaza was full of energy and delighted Panic! fans. The only thing missing was an encore and a live performance of the band’s latest web release, “Death of a Bachelor,” which premiered a week prior on Apple radio. Other than that, everyone left pumped and ready for Panic’s next album, which is rumored to come out sometime in the upcoming months.

The setlist was as follows:

Vegas Lights
Time to Dance
The Ballad of Mona Lisa
The Only Difference between Martyrdom and Suicide is Press Coverage
Hallelujah
Let’s Kill Tonight
Girls/Girls/Boys
Ready to Go
Nicotine
New Perspective
Casual Affair
Miss Jackson
Nine in the Afternoon
Bohemian Rhapsody
Lying is the Most Fun a Girl Can Have without Taking Her Clothes Off
Collar Full
Nearly Witches
This is Gospel
Any Way You Want It
You Shook Me All Night Long
I Write Sins Not Tragedies

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