Brendon Urie from Panic! at the Disco. Photo credits Wikimedia
Completely randomly, I managed to get a free ticket to the Panic! at the Disco Viva Las Vengeance tour at the Birmingham Utilita Arena on Saturday 5th March, 2023. I say random, but really I was lucky enough that my friend was dedicated enough to trawl Twitter and Facebook to get me a seated ticket free of charge from someone who was trying to budge one.
And you know what? The show was actually kind of enjoyable in parts, but let's leave it there, Brendon. It's a blessing in disguise that he announced the band was splitting up earlier in the year, and this tour should be the fond(ish) farewell to Panic.
The opening act was FLETCHER and although I got to the venue a little after her set had started, what I saw of her performance was dynamic, high-energy, and really, really good. I don't know many of her songs, but even seated in the far left back of the arena, you could tell the crowd was really getting into the vibe and she seemed really alive on stage.
But, P!ATD is really a whole different ballpark. I listened to them for years. I have all of their albums (save for the new one) on vinyl, and I wore their merch avidly in high school, which tells you pretty much all you need to know about what kind of fifteen-year-old I was.
I have actually seen the band live once before, at Leeds Fest years ago, in 2018. The first time I saw them I was much more into the band than I am now, and I actually bought the festival ticket specifically for them, so it's safe to say I was going in to see them with high expectations again. I don't think they necessarily met them.
Seeing P!ATD at Leeds Fest 2018. Original photo by Kate Owen
The 2023 show was an amalgamation of older songs and new songs, which was expected because it was the new album tour, but disappointing. Old Panic us so much better, and I wish they'd played more of the classics. The setlist was like a sandwich, with old songs, then the new album, then closing out on the older songs, which was good, but the new music is such a far leap from the music that got me into the band, it felt like marketable clothes-shop pop.
As I said, I'm definitely biased towards older-era Panic because those are the songs I like, and I actually dread to think of the noise that came out of my mouth when I heard the opening notes of 'I Write Sins Not Tragedies'.
Don't get me wrong, a singer with a range of four octaves is crazy and Brendon Urie can still more or less hit the high notes, but I really do not enjoy the new album at all. I don't think we needed another album, I don't think his voice lends itself to another album and the songs weren't my thing at all. I will defend the older songs as still being amazing, and I was thrilled when he played some of the absolute classics, but I just really couldn't get into the new stuff - despite the people sitting around me who were absolutely belting the new album.
I felt like there was limited audience interaction, which is a shame. I feel like at a concert, part of the experience is the artist speaking to the crowd, trying to rouse them and get them all involved, but it was about an hour into the set when Brendon spoke at all, and all he said was "what's up Birmingham?" There was a little more speech further into the set, where Brendon thanked the crowd for 18 years of support with Panic! at the Disco, and explained a little about the passion behind the tour - but that was super close to the end of the set.
I wasn't expecting him to sit down and have an intimate chat with the crowd; the arena was huge and full and it probably wouldn't be possible to even curate that kind of vibe, but I think the absence of it made the atmosphere on stage feel a little aloof.
Utilita Arena Birmingham Photo by Chris Dack on Unsplash
After Ryan Ross left Panic, you could notice the difference in the level of songwriting, and the band gained a lot of critique because of Brendon, so much so that when the announcement of the splitting up was released, TikTok responded with what I would consider glee.
I think Brendon Urie is a talented singer. I am glad to have seen him live twice, and I am not gonna be negative about a free ticket, but I think the band should have let a good thing lie. 18 years is a long time to keep a band going at the same quality as it was at the start, and I feel like performing and touring and putting out albums for nearly two decades is just not possible.
I didn't get a lot of photos or videos of the night because I have mixed feelings about concert etiquette and phone usage (also my battery was running low, too), but for all my criticisms of the show, if you had told young, emo fifteen-year-old me that by the time I was twenty, I'd have seen Panic twice live, I wouldn't have believed you and I would have been absolutely thrilled.
Brendon Urie on March 5th 2023. Original photo by Kate Owen
As an experience, I'm glad I went to go see this show. I got to see some of my favourite songs live again, and I got to meet up with one of my closest friends who I haven't seen in about a year, which was amazing. I have no issue going to concerts alone, either, which is what happened before I met my friend. I think it's always a good night to go to a concert, and whoever kindly gave me their ticket - thank you! but would I see Panic if they toured again? Probably not.
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