Twenty One Pilots Auckland show review: Band bring backflips and brilliance to Spark Arena

OPINION After a six-year absence, genre-bending double act Twenty One Pilots made their welcome return to Kiwi shores , treating fans to an arena spectacle and giving one young fan the chance of a lifetime. Mitchell Hageman was there. “We didn’t know if anyone was gonna show,” Twenty One Pilots’ Tyler Joseph told his near-capacity crowd at Auckland’s Spark Arena on a sweltering Sunday night, a few songs after he’d just done a backflip off a piano.

“Yet you already exceeded our expectation,” he added, a remark met with rapturous applause from the sea of red beanies, trench coats and skeleton makeup that made up the room. Joseph and co-star/drummer Josh Dun, both hailing from Columbus, Ohio, were back to give their loyal Kiwi fans more than a concert; they were there to give them an experience - and that’s exactly what they delivered and more..