Twenty One Pilots performed an inventive cover of Elton John‘s “Bennie and the Jets” on Sunday as part of their set for AT&T Playoff Playlist.
Calling it his dad’s “favorite song,” singer Tyler Joseph first kicked off the number with a verse and chorus of “Mulberry Street,” from the band’s latest album Scaled and Icy, before transitioning into the 1973 classic.
“Hey kids, shake it loose together/ The spotlight’s hitting something/ That’s been known to change the weather/ We’ll kill the fatted calf tonight, so stick around/ You’re gonna hear electric music/ Solid walls of sound/ Say, Candy and Ronnie, have you seen her yet?/ Oh, but they’re so spaced out/ B-B-B-Bennie and the Jets,” he sang, vamping on the piano while bandmate Josh Dun commanded the drums.
Eventually, the duo finished off the mash-up by returning to the strains of “Mulberry Street” with some help from a trumpeter, with Joseph reminding the audience to “keep your bliss, there’s nothing wrong with this.”
This summer, the alt-pop act will head out on their North American Icy Tour in support of their latest LP, a 22-date follow-up to their Takeøver Tour from last year. Scaled and Icy peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 after its May release and has spawned four singles thus far: “Shy Away,” “Choker,” “Saturday” and “The Outside.”
Before their own tour starts, Twenty One Pilots will headline Napa’s BottleRock over Memorial Day weekend alongside Metallica, P!nk and Luke Combs with additional sets by Greta Van Fleet, Kygo, The Black Crowes, Pitbull and Mount Westmore, a brand-new hip-hop supergroup that includes Snoop Dogg, Ice Cube, E-40 and Too $hort.
Watch Twenty One Pilots take “Bennie and the Jets” to “Mulberry Street” below.
