With public service announcements, to local radio stations advertisements from Q101 and vast amounts of ads in the Tribune’s Red Eye, the Honda Civic Tour, featuring Panic at the Disco, created quite a buzz around Chicago. After all, the tour was scheduled for two consecutive sold out shows at the Congress Theatre, where a brand new Eco-friendly automobile was given to one lucky winner. Yet the bigger buzz was caused by the new sound coming from Panic themselves, causing a strong disconnect from the anxious audience on a beautiful Friday evening.
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Panic at the Disco
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 Entertainment
Art
Congress Theater
Chicago, Ill.
May 23, 2008
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Since the release of Panic’s second album Pretty. Odd. in the spring, speculation about the band’s popularity has been in question ever since. After all, their signature high impact and fast paced sound sky-rocketed the band from a small Las Vegas group, to TRL repeat encounter. But their new album proved the boys from Nevada grew up and introduced a more mature sound mimicking their idols, the Beatles. The question on many minds has been, ‘Will their fans like their new tracks?’
Besides waiting for the longest set up known to man (more than an hour) after Motion City Soundtrack’s more than boring show, Panic opened their set with their first song of their new album, “We’re So Starving,” with lots of energy and accompanied with leafy ‘Adam and Eve’ type of microphones and overall stage design. They followed up with their first release of their new album, “Nine In the Afternoon.” Thinking some type of Broadway show would have broken out on the stage (like in their music videos and live performances thanks to MTV music awards), I was mildly disappointed. And if you were thinking possibly later in the show? Don’t worry; the Broadway dancers never executed a performance the entire night.
Through the course of the night, the boys of Panic at the Disco played a game of flip-flop with their new versus old songs. It made for a playful set since there is such a strong contrast between their albums, but the audience didn’t seem to enjoy their new tracks. As they went on to play “Lying Is The Most Fun A Girl Can Have Without Taking Her Clothes Off” and dance song “Camisado,” the audience’s morale was extremely high. But when they switched up the vibe and played songs like “Northern Downpour” and “That Green Gentlemen,” the audience’s tone was somewhat hesitant. After hearing that specific song, I giggled to myself because the actual words in that song that Brendon Urie sang with a purpose was, “Things have changed for me, and that’s okay, I feel the same.”
A surprising twist to the night was the attractive vocal range of Urie. Granted, I too have downloaded Panic tunes, but realized that on their live performances, Urie can not hold a high note to save his life. But to my surprise, Urie’s voice never cracked during the entire set, even during “I Write Sins Not Tragedies. “
The ever-so-popular encore set was necessary, where the boys of Panic played three additional songs to finish up their eclectic hour long set, incorporated with an electrical bubble show. Too bad half the audience left by the time the encore set started, because bubbles still bring a smile to every person’s face, no matter the age.
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