The concert is not until Saturday night, but Twenty One Pilots’ homecoming has been building in Columbus all week. Fans of the Columbus duo — known as the Skeleton Clique — began trickling into central Ohio days ahead of the Oct. 17 sold-out show at Ohio Stadium, the Pilots’ largest headlining concert ever, and local businesses along the fans’ pilgrimage route are feeling it.
Guided by a list posted on Facebook in the Twenty One Pilots Superfans group, visitors have been stopping at sites in and around Columbus featured in the band’s music videos, treating the trip like a vacation built around the show. The increased foot traffic has brought what one shop owner called a “positive commotion” to the Short North and beyond.
At Big Fun Columbus Vintage Toys, 672 N. High St., where the Pilots filmed the video for “Lavish,” owner Jason Williams said fans started arriving early in Pilots T-shirts and hats, asking questions about the video shoot. “From my estimation, a lot of people are here early treating it like a vacation or extended break,” Williams said. “The fans are friendly, kind, patient and appreciative to be here, and we’re excited to have them here.”
Williams has seen this before: shoppers during the duo’s three-night stand at Nationwide Arena in 2024 brought the Short North store its biggest sales in its 13-year existence. He has ordered extra shirts and merchandise for this weekend and expects, if the pattern holds, to limit the number of people in the store at one time.
A few miles north, a Clintonville restaurant with a nearly matching name is bracing for its own rush. Lavash Cafe, at 2985 N. High St., appears in the “Lavish” video, and co-owner Jamal Latif said calls, texts and private messages from fans prompted a Facebook post laying out the cafe’s first-come, first-served reservation policy for concert weekend. “When people come to Columbus for Twenty One Pilots, it’s like they’re going to Mecca. They want to go visit all the different sites of the music videos,” Latif said. “People like to take pictures outside Lavash and come try the food.”
Latif said previous Pilots shows have drawn patrons to the cafe from around the globe, and his crew will be ready for a possible Skeleton Clique overflow. “It’s going to be all hands on deck,” he said.
The pilgrimage stretches beyond the city, too. At Centerville Market, 13342 Center Village Road in Galena, where the “Backslide” video was filmed, cashier Tara Corsi said fans have been in and out throughout the week — one visitor from Spain, and before that, someone from California. “They ask questions about the video and I’m excited to be able to talk with them and share my experience,” she said. By Saturday night, all of those scattered stops lead to one place: a sold-out Ohio Stadium, for the hometown show Columbus fans have been waiting for.