Panic! At the Disco at Basketball City

Brendon Urie

Four high school friends formed Panic! At the Disco in 2004 in the Las Vegas suburb of Summerlin, Nevada. Panic! At the Disco started as a Blink-182 cover band. While the musicians were still in high school, Panic! At the Disco began posting original songs online, and the band was discovered by Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy. Two original members left shortly after the band began recording and touring, and a third member left in 2014, leaving vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Brendon Urie to continue Panic! At the Disco with hired musicians. Panic! At the Disco's fifth album, Death of a Bachelor, is scheduled for release on January 15, 2016.

Panic! At the Disco opened for Fall Out Boy the Pandora Holiday free concert tonight at Pier 36 Basketball City, played before contest winners and streamed live to Pandora listeners. The performance was centered on Urie's range of vocals and animated stage presence, with Urie charging forth and the musicians supplementing Urie's direction. Hook lines abounded, and Urie frequently left his station by his sequencers to work the crowd. The majority of the set sounded like a more dynamic 1980s new wave dance-pop, with faster songs approaching a rocking peak. The set leaned more on newer albums, including the singles from the forthcoming album, but all five albums were represented. The curious addition was a fairly faithful cover of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody." Panic! At the Disco presented a few curves and twists in the musical arrangements, but overall the performance was drenched in sparkling, bouncy, commercial fare.

Visit Panic! At the Disco at www.panicatthedisco.com.